Thanksgiving's Pagan and Catholic Origins

http://www.medievalists.net/2013/11/02/thanksgivings-roots-in-old-world-harvest-feasts

"It would be misleading not to point out that virtually all cultures around the world who’s societies were built around agriculture had (and many still do have) their own harvest feasts wherein thanks is given to whichever gods are honored in that culture."

Be sure and check out the pdf at the end of the teaser article for the full load on thanksgiving's history, including its catholic origins as well, something the Puritans and Pilgrims would have been aware of in the context of history.

So, again, it's like I've been saying for years; Thanksgiving is no less pagan than Christmas, Halloween, or Easter. If you celebrate any of those holidays "for God," you can stop bad-mouthing the others. Either you accept the Psalmist' s decree that, "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," and that nothing is "pagan" in origin because as Creator He has first ownership, or you passively reject it through your deeds.

A Rant on Greenville's "Christianity"

I'm so glad I didn't grow up in Greenville. If I had, I have little doubt in my mind that I'd be an atheist. The Christian community here makes the whole of Bluefield look like Saints.  If it weren't for my parents, a few good Christian leaders that the Greenville area seems hell-bent on labeling "not Christian enough," and the Godly examples of the friends of my family back in Virginia, I'd think I was being fed a bunch of lies when read the Bible.
This region is disgusting. The only people I can trust around here to lead an exemplary life are people who've sworn off the so-called church because it's no longer a Church, it's a social club to be catty, holier-than-thou at after fucking the pastor's pre-teen daughter on Sunday so you could get the position on the board of Elders and earn the title of "spiritual leader."
I honestly think the best thing for this area, and quite possibly the country as a whole, is for it to fall to religious persecution. After all, the Church has always thrived under persecution. Persecution makes us forget about the things that don't really matter and focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This need is evidenced by the rampant complacency in some parts of the Church for doctrine, and the vile hatred for the lost in the name of "loving doctrine" or "despising sin" in others.

Just A Catalyst.

This is just a rough draft. Whether I ever work on it again or not, eh.

Were I blind, my ears would have heard nothing from you to speak of Christ's Grace.
Were I deaf, my eyes would have seen nothing of Christ's love in your deeds.
Whether word or deed, I don't see Christ in you.
But I am not blind; I am not deaf, I see and I hear all your hate and all your whisperings.
And though you claim Christ, your deeds make lies of your claims.
But even a dumb rock can be a catalyst to the Almighty's testimony
For in your harsh words and diabolic deeds, my dear bride has been a portrait
Of her Savior, suffering your incourtesies and returning grace;
Enduring your impurity and offering love that truly is without condition.
Would I could be so meek and bold! But one truth bars me.
You claim my Christ, yet profane His name by your very interactions.
That I cannot forebear. It sickens me; it makes the bile rise in my throat
To think that deeds like yours will be the only Christ some will ever see.
Were I those sad souls, gladly would I chose damnation over such a false, pretentious hope.
But praise be that I am not them! My precious darling, in her every interaction with you
Is a constant reminder of the Grace that Abode with us.
And while my anger calls for burning justice, she stands and intercedes for you.
So, if you ever do give thanks, give praise to God that you were used of Him as a catalyst.
If you ever speak of grace, plea for it in earnest. Like all souls eternal, there is much need of it.
But woe to you who give my bride sorrow. Her intercession is all that stays me.

Random Questions On Reality.

Just a few of the random questions that run through my head while showering....

1. If there are multiple realities, when did they begin in reference to a literal Genesis account of Creation? Did they begin before the fall of Adam? If so, then how was Creation "very good"? If they began after, was part of the curse a fractured reality?
2. If multiple realities exist, then many would say the number of realities that exist are infinite. If that's so, then there must be a reality where Adam didn't sin and the world is still perfect. Was Christ's death, then, a sacrifice necessary to bring all the other realities into coexistence with the perfect reality? Is the end of the world an event where God hand-waves and destroys all imperfect realities and merges the souls that have come to a saving knowledge of Christ with the perfect reality?
3. If multiple realities exist, could it be possible that we as humans really have no true imagination? Imagination could simply be one person's mind becoming attuned to another reality. Story writers are merely penning the history of another reality. If that's the case, I want to stay in Middle Earth.

And we wonder why I don't fit into most churches....

Symbols and Imagery in Christianity.

Why is it that we are so small as to recognize the Trinity in nature in the form of plants, states of matter, among other things, but we cannot bring ourselves to recognize the five wounds of Christ, or the five senses?

We are quick to say that "sevens and threes" are "holy" numbers, but we fail to see that if God did make this universe, then not just the sevens and the threes are holy, but all the numbers are? The fact that Holy Writ points out instances where sevens and threes are of note does not make the twos and the fives any less meaningful or holy, it just means that they have another divine, holy purpose. God told Noah to take two of every kind of animal, but to take seven of every "clean." This doesn't have to mean that the "unclean" animals (the ones gathered in pairs) were evil, they just had a different divine purpose.

We are so quick to label His Creation as, "this is holy and that is not," but we have no place to do so. God declared creation "very good," and though fallen, creation is still a shadow of that goodness.

We do live in a fallen world. However, it is man's sin that makes it so, not nature's existence. Any unpleasantness in nature is a result of man's doing, and not nature's. We, humanity, need to own up to that fact.

Symbols, and the meanings behind them, are transient. The Greek Alphabet has little meaning to the common man today beyond symbolizing what fraternity or sorority you belong to. Egyptian hieroglyphs have even less meaning. The common man has no idea what those symbols meant to the Egyptian, but we do know that a hieroglyph depicting a bird looks like a bird. The symbol's meaning has lost value over time. 

In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pentagram, or pentacle, was used as a symbol of Solomon, giving power over demons, and of infinity, fidelity, among many other virtues. Today, many Christians ironically balk at the pentacle's presence, since the symbol is used by some pagan groups.

We have lost sight of the very notion that the pentacle, a geometric shape present in many naturally occurring things, like the apple pictured, has no inherent evil. It isn't a demon. It isn't a devil. It isn't a bodily manifestation of Satan himself. It is a work of nature; a nature that was designed by a Holy God,  and while fallen, the inherent sin is not in existence, but in death and decay. The Bible says when Adam sinned, death came into the world, not pentacles, not spiders, not the color black. All of those things were present in a very good Creation. While death and decay will fall to apples, and the paper or metal that pentacles are drawn or fashioned from will decay, the symbols themselves are not created evil. It's how man uses them that makes a difference.

The cross was in existence long before Jesus Christ Himself long before our Lord was nailed to it. And mankind ascribed many different meanings to it. But after the Messiah was crucified, the cross slowly became a symbol of Christianity. In fact, most people today see the Cross as a Christian symbol, and so do most Christians. Why can't we do the same with the rest of Creation? As the Psalmist says in Psalm 24, "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas." In short, God made it, it's His. The rest of the Psalm goes on to call on all nature to give God praise, for as the Creator, He's earned it.

Why can't we do the same instead of constantly finding symbols and styles of art to rant at each other about? A pentagram is not a symbol of evil unless by man's actions he makes it associated with evil, and even then, that five-pointed star is made by God. It's not mine to let fall by the wayside. My God made it. He cared enough to speak its beauty into existence, I should care enough to not allow it to be perverted by a pagan.  A cross is not a symbol of Christ's death and redemption unless man makes a conscious decision to allow it to represent that. The earth is our Lord's, live like it. Don't just shove a symbol in a box labeled evil because it gives you the willies or you don't care for it. It's beautiful in His eyes.

Easter is far from pagan.

This time of year, I see a lot of people proclaiming Easter as a Pagan holiday. I call bullshit. Yes, bullshit.

In name, and a few of the "traditional" symbols, yes. The time of year that Christ's historical ressurection took place corresponds to many pagan equinox and first rites of summer celebrations. And the birth of new life is definitely a theme of the season. But it celebrates Christ's Ressurection in Christianity. That ressurection took place after the Passover week, as Christ was Cruicified during Passover. Passover takes place near the spring equinox. The exact date has been argued and debated throughout history, but the general timeframe remains the same.
If you have a problem with celebrating the equinox itself, see my post on Christmas for why an astronomical event is made by God, and stated in Genesis that its purpose is to mark the passage of time. Celebrating that time is not a problem. It was Created by God for that observance.
If you have a problem with the pagan trappings; the name and the fertility symbols, fine. Don't use them, call Easter by another day.
But this Spring, by all tradition and Biblical fact, is the anniversiary of the event that rocked the ancient world, this spring is when the Jews were given the sign of Jonah, when more than 500 witinesses saw a living, risen Savior, and when the "New" Religion was born.
In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son. The stars given for signs, seasons, and years proclaimed His birth, and those same heavens marked His death, and the world was changed by His ressurection. He is risen, indeed.

Christians in a transient culture

In my personal experience, most "Christians" who scream, "don't conform to the world's culture" don't mean it. What they REALLY mean is, "make sure you're conforming to the culture of days gone by, regardless of the wrongs it contained."
Where is the discernment? Are we content to look at past cultures through rose-colored glasses and always be a generation removed from the current culture that surrounds us?
What benefit is that? Is all the church stands for merely a throwback culture; a place people sick of dealing with trends and fashion waves can go and make themselves feel better because they now have a "moral" reason to not follow what's going on in the world around them?
Such an attitude won't last. Eventually, people will wake up. Eventually, they'll realize they don't need a moral reason to not conform to the prevailing social trends. They'll realize that they only need to have a different preference and enough backbone to stand out because they want to.
Such an attitude is happening today.
Such a wake-up call is making pastors sound like fools and Christians who hold to yesterday's trends and cry that it's "for moral reasons" look like idiots.
Why? Because it wasn't too long ago that anything below a woman's neckline was too much skin to show. Because now the same church that said a piano was of the devil, only fit for bars and pleasure halls is screaming that a church without a piano is sinful.
Because the church has set its foundation on a base that is as transient as the next social revolution, not the truths of Scripture.
You can cry, "thou shalt be modest," "thou shalt be above reproach," but any thinking individual will look at you and say, "that two-piece suit was grossly immodest a few generations back, and in twenty years, my jeans and turtleneck will look just as over dressed as you," and walk away; justifiably so.
The church is holding people to a standard that is changing, and yet preaches that we serve a God who never changes.
Such a double-standard will not win a generation that can think.
So are we to do away with standards? No. But we must make sure our standards are not transient. Rather than concern ourselves with whether a modest neckline is four finger widths below the collarbone or a span, maybe we should set standards that are more immutable. If I journey to the jungles of Africa where the women typically run around topless, suddenly my five-finger width below the neckline standard is grossly over-the top.
What is the solution? Admit we're wrong. Admit that not every "standard" is absolute. Yes, God does give us standards that are absolute. But there are some things, like what is modest, that He left to our disgression. If He wanted to give us standards for modesty, He could have easily given us the pattern for the garments He made Adam and Eve after the Fall.
He didn't.
In His Wisdom, He left some things undefined. Why He did so is a subject we can debate from now until eternity, but there is no point to it. We might as well debate how many angels fit on a pinhead for all the good it will do.
He did define this: "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." That coming gives us plenty to work on without worrying about such transient things as culture.

The Reason behind the Seasons

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him." (Colossians 1:16)

"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years'"
(Genesis 1:14)

I'm posting this, and just saying, before anybody else starts sending requests for me to "keep Christ in Christmas," and refuse to acknowledge "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Solstice," I'm not going to.

My God is greater than such petty drivel because He's always been there. Before Bethlehem, He was the reason for the season before time began.
The pagans are right. Christmas was originally a Solstice celebration. No honest examination of history can say otherwise. Solstice celebrations were taking place before the Birth of Christ.

However, it doesn't stop there.

Christ, as the self-existent, eternal Creator God, is the reason for the Solstice. He made it.
It's right there in Genesis 1, He made the stars "for signs, seasons, and years." That means the Solstice, an astronomical event marking the passage of time, the passing of a season, is His design. He built it into nature; He put it there for us to observe and celebrate if we chose.
Throughout Scripture we see this thread,
"the earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1.)

It doesn't matter if you're saying, "Merry Christmas," or "Happy Solstice." God was behind it. He made it. He's still the reason behind the season. He created  the Solstices, and He, not some pagan, set the Solstices and the phases of the moon aside to mark events, the passage of time.
How we as Christians choose to celebrate these events is crucial. We can acknowledge Christ as the reason behind them all, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all, or we can ignore His handiwork.
The world is going to celebrate without us. They are going to have feasts, light menorahs, acknowledge the passing of His solstice with or without us.
We have simple choices. We can ignore it, not celebrate, and by our silence keep the truth of the Creator to ourselves. We can pick petty fights over whether we call the Season Christmas, Hanukkah, or the Solstice, as if Christ were only the reason for the season for the Christ Mass, a Catholic holiday celebrating the Virgin Birth, and not the fact  that He made the Solstice; He was behind it. He also led the Maccabees; He was behind preserving His people. He made this world, and as the Great Giver, the One who gave the ultimate gift of Himself is behind the gifts and the presents.
He's behind it all, regardless of the name you give the Season, He is there, standing boldly, the Creator, the Giver of Salvation, the Preserver of His People, Jesu the Messiah. 

I can no more force my fellow man to acknowledge Christ in the season by insisting on calling it "Christ mass" than I can force them to believe in His redemptive work.
We would do well to take a page from the early church. Point people back to the Creator, not shove Him down their throats.
Next time someone says "Happy Holidays," or "Happy Haunukkah," remember, what God blessed the Maccabes' Revolt and miraculously kept the menorah lit? What Creator made the solstice? Yahweh.
All things were made by Him. He is the reason for the Solstice, He preserved the Nation of Israel; He's the Reason for Haunukkah. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son; He's the reason for the Virgin Birth. (And really, whether Christ was born on Christmas day or not is a mute point. We don't celebrate Washington's birthday on His birthday, either.)
No matter how you spin it, He's the reason. Stop nitpicking over names. He's behind them all.
EDIT: For those that want a more detailed look at what the Scripture says about Christmas: link

Today sucks. Tomorrow will be better.

Any attempt to promote yourself as a "Christian" environment; meaning a wholesome, safe, secure place is doomed to fail. This is because a "Christian" isn't someone who never does wrong. You are starting on a false premise.
A "Christian" is someone who does wrong, but accepts God's forgiveness and trusts in God's grace to give him the ability to do right.
A Christian environment isn't free of wrongdoing. A Christian environment openly admits that wrong has been done, and lovingly enables the wrongdoer to not do wrong again. A theif isn't beaten down and told "go find a job, don't steal." A theif is told, "hey, here's a job we need done that your talents fit. Work for us and we'll pay you a decent wage."
An environment that tries to label itself Christian, but hide wrongdoing from the public eye is going to fail. Not only is it going to fail, it will do more to mar the name Christian than if it just admitted they weren't perfect in the first place. Not admitting you're a sinner is just as much a slight to Christ as saying, "yeah, I'm a Christian, but I'm going to sin anyway."
The gospel is keyed to, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Anyone that's been through the Romans' Road knows the first "step" to Salvation is admitting you're a sinner in need of God's grace.
And anyone that's been an honest Christian knows that accepting God's grace doesn't immediately transform you, or any other Christian, into a sinless person.
To try and hide the fact that Christians are sinners from the world is to lie to the world about who Christians are, and lie about the real need for Christ.
We should strive for honesty with those around us. Because honesty is more powerful than a polished front.
I know, it's very utopian of me. But you know what, dreaming and striving for a better world can't be all that bad. I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime. But I do think my life can make a difference. Not just by living for today, but by living so I'll make a difference sixty years from today. By living for a brighter future. Because I know it will someday happen, He promised me it will. And I believe Him.

True Science

Washington Post
The problem with what Bill Nye is saying is, I personally know many PhD's that  found scientific conflicts in the scientific data on assertive statements like, “The Earth is not 6,000 or 10,000 years old,”  and they changed their scientific stances accordingly.
It wasn't religion that changed their mind, at least initially. It was when they found that the thories put forth by Creationists better fit the data they saw that they came to faith.
If you want to start with the science, please do, but do so honestly. If the "facts" so strongly supported evolution, you wouldn't have a (rising) near majority of the population disbelieving that the "facts" presented to them in the classroom are true. Especially when, not a generation ago, that percentage of disbelief was much smaller.
If you truly believe in science, in facts, truth will out. I know many Creation scientists, including my father, who are more than willing to let the facts fall where they may, as long as you don't supress the other side of the scientific coin.
It's a viewpoint based on science whether the earth is 10 thousand or 10 billion years old. If the facts speak as strongly as Nye is saying, then truth will out. If the facts aren't so strong, then causing these young minds to question the status quo is probably a good thing and may lead to many scientific advancements.
I always find it interesting that questioning the status quo is alright as long as it only leads to a viewpoint that the speaker agrees with. If it doesn't, it's dangerous and shouldn't be tried. Then again, my own questioning of the status quo in Christianity puts me in a minority among most Christians, liberal or conservative, so I see this happening a lot on both "sides."
Anyway, back to my point.
What Bill Nye is suggesting is unscientific. Telling people to supress their theories, supress facts and knowledge, despite how well the facts may fit, simply because they don't agree with the prevailing theory is just as bad as telling people not to believe that the earth orbits the sun simply because the prevailing theory says the sun orbits earth.
Truth will out. Shut up an let freedom speak.  

Ambassadors

As a kid, I made a pledge. This was not a "purity" pledge or any of the commercial fluff that the modern Christian pop-culture has produced that effectively drives a wedge between young adults and their relationship with Christ. This was a pledge that stuck with me and has driven, sometimes unconciously, my walk with God over the years.
It was the Royal Ambassador's pledge. I'll copy it here for reference.

"As a Royal Ambassador I will do my best: to become a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ; to have a Christ-like concern for all people; to learn how to carry the message of Christ around the world; to work with others in sharing Christ; and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body."

That pledge came to mind today as I read a post a friend on Facebook made.
She said,

"A group of Christians showed up at a Chicago gay pride parade in July. They were holding up signs saying “I’m sorry that Christians judge you” “I’m sorry for how the churches treated you”"

This post got me to thinking. As the Royal Ambassador (RA) motto states, "We are Ambassadors for Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Remember, the job of any Ambassador is to communicate the message of his lord. If the Ambassador uses words that do not properly relay the intended message, he is failing his lord.
It doesn't matter if the recipiant is "hostile" to the lord, the Ambassador must find a way to burn through the hostility, find an area of common understanding, and relay the message in light of the common understanding. That is the definition of communication, and the duty of an Ambassador. Being an Ambassador is also a learning experience. An Ambassador learns how to better understand his lord, and how to better understand the people his lord has sent him to. The duty is a life long learning experience.
An Ambassador's duty is NOT to sit and pontificate or dictate terms. An Ambassador is a peaceful mediator.

We are Ambassadors for Christ. We are peaceful mediators. We are supposed to learn how to communicate Christ's message in a way that reflects Him, the Holy and Just God who "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." Not a God of hate.

Christianity, Dungeons and Dragons, and shooting your own wounded.

The Knight Shift: Gary Gygax and Christianity: Dungeons & Dragons creator was a believer
This article was informative and the supporting links very clearly back the facts. Gary's own statements from Gen Con 2007 sealed any critical doubts anyone could have.
This did surprise me that Gary claimed faith in Christ, but the supporting articles did point to some small details of the early game that I was unaware of. The spells that reflect Biblical miracles were right there in front of me and it never clicked.
It did not surprise me that Christians managed once again to shred their own. There are plenty that speak against C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien simply for dabbling in a creative fantasy world using tools given them by their Creator for His glory. Perhaps the only reason other Christians so vocally support Lewis and Tolkien is because their other works are so blatantly "Christian" that they somehow are more worthy of vindication.
I hold that Gary is equally worthy. He created a game that could have been a magnificent tool in the hands of Christians to reach others. Imagine a story-telling game where you could demonstrate moral principles in subtle ways to your players.
Sadly, Christians smashed that tool underfoot and left it unused. They left a loaded gun for the enemy to pick up and point right back at them. Nay, they picked up the gun and pointed it at their own head.

Been saying this for a good long while. Posting here for safe keeping.

Government, marriage rights, and same-sex marriage | Washington Times Communities

M'Lenae

I wrote my previous post almost a year ago now. A lot has happened in that time. A lot of good, some shadows, but the end result is going to be amazing and I can only thank God for hearing this poor man's cry.
The Sunday after I wrote that post, I'd stayed up late. Didn't plan on going to church the following morning. Nowhere in the radius of my meager gas budget seemed worth my time.
God had other plans.
What I say next may sound crazy, or supersticious, but regardless of opinion, it happened. To me.
I woke up early the next morning. It was like God was telling me to get my butt out of bed & go to church.
I felt strangely rested, despite having been up til 3 or 4 am. I didn't have "I'm tired" as an excuse. I had "church" clothes clean, no excuse there.
I was grasping at straws, "God, there's nowhere worth going, I'm treated like a leper everywhere." I pleaded.
But a specific place kept coming up in my mind. A specific church, well within my gas limitations.
I had no excuse left, so I got dressed & ready. Googled service times in a last ditch effort to find any reason to stay home. No excuse there.
As I drove to this church I'd never been to, I kept telling God, "if nobody says hi to me, or makes me feel welcome, I'm not staying. I'm walking out."
I didn't know anyone there and was so fed up with "Christians" not being kind to me I really didn't feel like getting hurt again.
I arrived at the building and went inside. At first, I stood awkwardly inside the sanctuary. For a few tense minutes, I was hopeful I'd get to leave this foreign place. Then a couple of people started to talk to me. I don't remember who they were, but my initial instinct was they didn't really feel like saying hello, they just felt obligated to.
I was within a hair's breadth of walking out.
I was within a hair's breadth of missing out on the biggest and best thing that ever happened to me.
As I was talking to those ladies, a vaguely familiar face came across the sanctuary, smiling.
I had met this girl while working and hanging out at a game store I had been employed at, Boardwalk and Park Place. Her name, as she reminded me at the time, was Lydia. I'd always had fun talking with her whenever she'd stop by the store to hang out.
We got to talking, she invited me to sit with her.
She was friendly. Something I didn't expect out of any Christian. Not from my past few years' experience.
I got to know her better & better over the next few weeks, glad to finally have a friend I could talk to about anything and everything. She didn't judge the mistakes I had made, and she and I had an endless ammount of interests and similarities.
I always looked forward to chatting with "my little friend" as I thought of her. (Sorry, Lydi, I don't know if I ever told you that.. :) )
Then she threw me a curve ball. Part of me way down deep had suspected this, but I disbelieved my suspicion enough the revelation took me back.
Lydia told me she had developed feelings for me.
I was kinda pleasantly surprised, but scared spitless at the same time.
But one thing finally won out, an old piece of wisdom; "you marry your best friend."
And Lydia had swiftly become that.
I don't trust easily. Not anymore. But that sweet little angel had done more to earn my trust in a few weeks than many had done in years. And she still does.
I could go into a lot more, but I won't here.
The rest, as both Lydia and I like to call it, is, "A Love Story."
We're engaged to be married this coming October. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her. She's amazing. No person is perfect, I get that. But God made her perfect for me, and I'm eternally grateful.
Thank you, Lydia. You're an amazing girl, a wonderful woman, and I love you with all my heart.

Musing

He was faced with a bitter choice; fight, fly, or freeze. He couldn't fly, and he didn't freeze. And men of God condemned him for his choice.
Is he so low that he should allow himself to be battered? Is God's shepherd so high that he may declare such violence as God's will?
No one else makes such a declamation. They understand.
He cries:
Lord, why can't Your people understand? I want to be in your house. I want to feel Christian love. But every time I try, all I hear are that minister's damning words. And I wonder if any shepherd could ever see me as anything but an animal you must not corner. A beast, a demon, a bomb.
This man just wants to go his way. Maybe be loved, be held by a sweet someone who doesn't mind his pain, his scars. He doesn't wish for wealth or fame. He just wants to live, to love, and have someone who views him the same.
He's tired of viewing others suspiciously. He is tired of wondering if they will force him to choose to fight, fly, or freeze.
He just wants a place he can worship and a woman he can trust. He's buried his heart so deep, and no one wants to dig it up. And that truth is killing him.
Where are the Christians for him?
Not knocking on his door. Not inviting him to come to church with them. He won't come to any general invitation. Life has wounded him to the point he must be coaxed, like a wounded animal, gently, slowly. And like a wounded hawk loves and is loyal to his healer, so will he be. Who will reach him, Christian? Or will he be lost to the void?