The More Things Change

There is an old saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." It is Saturday, just after 5:00 AM and here I am blogging. That is not a problem. I have been mostly awake for about three hours already. I am pretty sure I am going to need a nap later on, but for now God bless Charles Alderton. Oh, he invented Dr. Pepper.

The more things change comes up because I got word of a scheduling change at work which I believe was intended to start next week. In my opinion it is never a good idea to unilaterally and indiscriminately change a person's schedule without considering all the ramifications. The new schedule is certainly less convenient for me, but it is not even about convenience. I have to rework the whole class schedule. It is not even about that though. I recently looked over our success rate to get the big picture overview. When we had to change from one class a day to two our success rate went way down. It probably was not the class schedule per se that caused it, but rather the fact that twice as much teaching left us with much less time to give the program participants nearly as much personal attention. We teach more, but disciple less. We are not able to pour as much of Jesus' life and love into the men. That leaves me sad. Another schedule change is only going to make that worse. I am not sure at this point what I can do to mitigate that.

I am doing some good work at the mission. At least a lot of people seem to think so. If I have to deal with some things I just do not understand I guess I will do that as long as Jesus is pleased to have me do it. I cannot help anyone if I am not there. Still, there comes a time when enough is too much. Not to worry, that time is not yet.

By now you are probably asking if I am just venting or if there is really a reason for all this. There is always a reason--if it is only me venting and processing my emotions in print. You all would probably be gracious with me and finish reading anyway. I am constantly amazed at what you all get out of the things I write when I am not the least bit impressed.

There are life lessons to be learned in any situation we may encounter. By the way, now Saturday has turned into Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We have been having internet problems for over a week here at home. I had finished this post. When I went to print a copy Monday, the last half was not there. Apparently it got lost Sunday somewhere between my computer and the Google server when I tried to publish it. I do apologize to those of you who might have read the half a post before I found out what had happened. The repairman for the DSL was here yesterday afternoon. Now I can finish it.

Sunday morning as I was almost awake I was kind of complaining to the Lord. I was saying "This guy is a pain in the..." That was exactly as far as I got when the Holy Spirit reminded me of something I have taught over the years about Paul's thorn in the flesh. (2 Corinthians 12:7) Most people want to spiritualize the thorn or say it was a physical illness that Paul could not get rid of. Some even claim this passage is proof Jesus does not want to heal everyone. I doubt Paul would have agreed. In fact, he said his thorn was a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him and keep him humble. What he was saying is he had a spirit following him, stirring up trouble for him and it was a pain in the neck. Of course with the decay of society nowadays we tend to use a lower part of the anatomy in that expression.

R.T. Kenyon, a pastor and author from a previous generation, believes everyone has a thorn in the flesh. I am not sure I agree with that hypothesis. I have never thought myself to need one. I can keep myself pretty humble with my own mistakes. I think that is all I will say about that.


Whether I have a thorn or not, I have been keep off balance for a couple weeks now by one thing after another. I need a vacation. Lord, I need a long vacation--with pay please. You have seen what happens when I am off balance. It has been over two weeks since I published a post. I know most of you are accustomed to me being a more prolific writer than that. I usually am.

Make no mistake, the devil does not want me to succeed in any area of my life. (Pssstttt...he does not want you to succeed either.) I have been getting dangerous to the kingdom of darkness after all these years. I beat on the serpent's head every day at the mission. Men are coming out of jail, being born again, and turning their lives toward more beneficial pursuits. I blog. Some people read my blog. Some of them find a little help, comfort, instruction or solace in what they read. I am dangerous.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) Some of the newer translations add the causative to this verse so it reads, "...God causes all things to work..." or "...in all things, God works..." As Christians we know regardless of how the verse is translated, God is the one who works and causes all things to work. To finish this post and publish it, let me say that God worked in every situation that was causing me stress over the past week and they have all been resolved. It is possible that not everyone is happy with the way things were resolved, but that undoubtedly means their life lessons in those situations are not yet complete. God is doing good work everywhere I look. I am kind of excited. I had to finish this post so I could get on to the next one. If you are not excited by the time you finish reading it, check your pulse. God bless.