Blogging ‘experts’ say one of the “requisites” of successful ‘blogging’ is to keep something current. “You need to have a post at least a couple times a week,” they* say. I also have been told that sometimes my “sermons” seemed long. Yawn. Stretch and ho hum.
Last time I was invited to “sermonize,” my wife was out in the audience. It was only the second time she had heard me speak publicly in the years we’ve been together. After a while she stretched her arms widely, yawned, and looked conspicuously at her watch. Later, I told her that wouldn’t ever bother me, unless she shook it to see if it’s still running.
Not that I’m the only one who’s long- winded: I was told once that Billy Graham’s platform team joked with him about the length of his sermons. Thinking he hadn’t gotten the point, one night they handed him a calendar as he approached the podium!
I don’t think you should be made to “pay attention.” It is MY RESPONSIBILITY to provide material which is thought-provoking and deserving of your time and interest. I’m working as diligently as I know how to make this worth the time you spend on this site.
Admittedly, thinking gets tiring sometimes and you need a break. Sometimes I need time to ‘think things through.’ Very carefully. Some of the material, especially in Job, is as problematic as it is profound. Before we proceed further, I sort of thought it would be worth while simply to take a break before we proceed with this venture.
Wouldn’t it be wise somewhere along our journey together to stop and think about your own devotion to Christ? Your commitment to follow Him? Remember the glow of joy that seemed so real when first you and He met? Think of the times when He seemed as close as your own heartbeat. Know that He loves you now as much as He loved you then. And He always will. May my love and yours for Him continue steadfast, growing daily as discover and do His will.
Although the flame of my faith has sometimes flickered because of some circumstances in my life, it has never been extinguished. Once, when in a contemplative mood, I sought to put some of my own feelings into the words printed below.
AMAZING BLAZE
The fire that, years ago, You ignited
Since then has warmed and lighted
Each dark, distant corner of my life.
Over rough, and sometimes winding days
In often unexpected ways
We’ve come together to this place.
And, my Lord, as I stand here backward gazing,
I find this thought still amazing:
THE FIRE YOU SET IS STILL BLAZING!
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This is still a Bible Study blog. My purpose remains to find how others in Scripture faced and handled trials. We have already seen that much of what they faced was so similar to our own “trials and tribulations,” that we could imagine someone had been reading our own diaries. The ‘study’ presently is about God’s “Comeback Kids,” and we’re currently considering Job. I’m also convinced that the means by which God delivered others in days gone by is the same way He will deliver those today who wish to do His will.
I’ve been engrossed pretty deeply in thought about how job stood, fell, wept, felt life was ended and all was lost, listened to ignorant but well-intentioned friends who added to his grief. Then got up, dealt with his problems, and emerged . . . not ‘somehow,’ or ‘by the skin of your teeth,’ . . . but victoriously. Triumphantly! Joyously, with voices raised in praise! With tragedy fast becoming a distant, fading memory!
Admittedly, my primary reason for such an endeavour as this study is selfish. Purely selfish. I’ve needed this knowledge before, and will probably need it again. Unless I miss my guess entirely, someone, somewhere, someday who reads this will discover Truth that makes us free. And if and when that happens, my reward for this effort will then indeed have been doubled!
It is with that hope and confidence that I commit these words to the internet.
~God’s servant ~ your friend, brother, and fellow student ~ donkimrey
Post Script: Thanks to good friend and constant source of encouragement, “Ebby” for the sign of the fish. It was one of the ‘secret symbols’ used by early Christians and had special significance then. If you don’t know the meaning of the symbol, let me know and I’ll attempt to explain it.
* Does anyone have the slightest idea who ‘they’ is. . . or are?
Scripture Student 
Honestly, I’m not in the habit of talking to myself. Maybe I should do that more often. You may have noticed I put this post up twice. Don’t know how I did it, or what to do to correct it. If I take one of them down, I also erase a couple of your posts. I have some very sharp friends, but they’re busy with their own stuff and I hate to bother them. In the meanwhile, just view this as another solid admission of my error-prone humanity! Maybe if you read it twice? You know the old adage: “Repetition aids learning.? ~dk
Hey, I like long sermons. In fact, few things leave me as cold as s hort sermon. I feel like I’ve been gyped somehow. But then, I am a hopeless “theo-geek”. Watched a 2-hour one by Paul Washer the other night on Puritan Fellowship’s blog after the kiddies were asleep. (And found it fascinating, I might add).
I loved your verse and the spirit behind it!