Hebrews 12

I've been a bad girl.

I have had such a crazy busy schedule during the past month or two that I have barely cracked open my Bible for devotions.
Now I am a firm believer that if your devotions schedule gets messed up for one reason or another,... that God doesn't get too bent out of shape about it. God is interested in the relationship,..not what is listed in our DayTimer calenders.

However,....however,....personally when I have a spell of no quiet time,..I find myself thirsty for God and His words to me.
Of course.
I am back on track now.
Drinking again.

My patients at Cardiac Rehab are of all different religions and denominations, and some absolutely love to talk theology. One of my patients, Tom, has a vibrant active Faith and teaches a Sunday school class of older adults who, according to him, sleep through church and life in general.
In an attempt to being some life and excitement to himself and others, Tom often will take a passage of scripture, and make numerous attempts to get his class to discuss the meaning. Occasionally,.he creates a deliberate rebellion by saying or reading something outrageous.
(Actually,..it's God who says the outrageous things,...and Tom just reads them.)

Last week,..it was a Scripture passage in Hebrews that he found confusing.
The scripture passage in Hebrews 12:5-8 talks about God "scourging His children".

Tom came to exercise therapy Monday morning and asked me what I thought about God intentionally bringing pain into our lives to make us go the direction He wants us to go.

Anyone who knows me know that I struggle with this concept of theology myself.
My opinion about this is not always popular.
My opinion about this is not necessarily correct.
My opinion about this is apt to change every hour.

Anyway,..here's the point of this story.
As I was studying this passage of scripture for myself and Tom,..a received a phone call from a dear friend who is deeply burdened with unexpected and sudden catastrophic health issues for her parents. Hospital rooms, cancer diagnosis, strokes, diabetes and now,..the need to relocate them to Arkansas.

My encouraging word for her did not include the "scourging of His children" part of Hebrews 12.
Gracious no!
My words for her were of the passage a few verses down (verse 12) which I had only moments before studied. It tells us to "strengthen the hands which hang down and the knees which are feeble,..so we can stay on the straight path".
I was able to encourage my friend in Mississippi that troubles will come our way,..but as brothers and sisters, we are all on the road heading towards God. Our job is to encourage each other on the way, in the middle of our good times, OR our bad times.
In our lives,..we pass people every day who, like Jackie, have "hanging down hands" or "the feeble knees". We do not need to always search for the reason we are getting beat up in life.
We need to pull each other along until we all get to Heaven.

So,..theology will still be discussed. It is right and proper to do so. I crave it actually.

Tom will still be in his Sunday school this Sunday and will probably lob another controversial topic in the middle of the snoozers.
Go Tom!

But I bet Tom didn't know when he did it last Sunday morning, that he would create a ripple effect which would make me sit at my table Friday morning, at the exact same time that Jackie would call me from Mississippi needing a good word.
The true delight is that the same passage of Scripture can hold such a vast wealth of meanings.

I love it when God reminds me of things like this.
I could just read about it,..but instead He chooses to make it real by getting me all involved in the lesson.