weBLOG for November 19th, 2006

I've never been one for war movies, but I loved "Saving Private Ryan" from the moment I first saw it. And one thing that always stuck with me was the sniper, played by Barry Pepper, that would praise God, and ask for strength, and make him guide his hand as he blew people away with one shot. Being a God-fearing man myself, I found it fascinating that he would ask to be God's instrument in killing. So, I put one of the lines he utters in the movie as the quote for the last Blog.

I'd like to start off today by asking you all a question. If you were wandering lost in the woods, with hundreds of other people also lost in the same woods; if you called out to someone to help you, would you care who turned up? Would you turn away help depending on who it was?

And now for something completely different.

I went to church today[pause for surprised gasps], and the sermon got me thinking. I know, that's what they're for, right? Anyway, the sermon was about how most people are ungrateful for what they have in their life. Most people take things in their life for granted: the way we look, the jobs we have, the cars we drive(or lack thereof), the people in our lives; and we choose not to acknowledge how these things came about. We forget to thank God.

God is the reason for everything in our lives. And in the past, I would have scoffed at this idea, never having given it much thought. But it reminded me of something my boss told me several months ago. "God told me to give you the job," she told me. And it hit me like a ton of bricks when she told me, cause she doesn't joke around when it comes to God. And it woke something in my mind, because, like most, I never thought that God got down on a personal level on my life. You know, I thought He took our messages, and farmed out the minute details, but ignored the logistics of it all(kinda like Dubya).

But I see that He does get down to the nitty-gritty. He's looking out for each and every one of us. That old joke for atheists when they say they don't believe in God; "He loves you anyway." He really does. Despite what's in our hearts, or where our faith is, He's there for it all.

And having experienced proof, for the second time, that He's looking out for us all at all times, I'm ready to thank Him for everything. I like to tell people that everything in my life has just kinda fallen in my path; now I know who put it there.

And speaking of the things in my life, I also have to thank God for the things not in my life. After all, if human beings can be guilty of sins of omission as well as sins of comission; then God is responsible for everything in our lives, and everything not in our lives.

Not to say that we should blame God for the losses we've suffered in life. If He gives us gifts for a reason, He has a reason for taking things from us, for clearing things out of our path. Thank you God, for the things I no longer have in my life, and for giving me the knowledge of why I no longer need it.

But wait, I'm not through yet.

Okay, yeah I am. I'm sure she knows that I'm thankful I met her 12 years ago.

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