If having the faith of a child is a pop quiz... finally!! one i can pass!!!

From: Ryan Rasmussen (raspo@mediaone.net)
Date: Thu Aug 31 2000 - 01:06:12 EDT

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    Hello all. Its been awhile since I've been on the discussion list due to a sudden change in career path that God has blessed me with. Ever get an answer to something you pray for and it scares you enough to make you realize its a gift from God? The choice you were worrying so much about actually WAS God's will and he was not about to let you to talk yourself out of it? Let me just sum it up by saying for the first time in my life I truly enjoy what I'm doing and apparently God thinks I still need to work on trusting him with my life and including my friendships.

    Well in the craziness of the transfer I of positions I didn't sign back up for the ASA listserve. The conversations on the list were always enticing and I found many a lunch hour slip by as I read and thought about much of the material in order to form my own opinion on many discussions.

    This was good but there seemed to be one thing that has always been lacking on the listserve. How do we as scientifically minded people approach our unique "struggles" in the Christian walk?

    For example, there are many times when things in the Bible cause my reasoning mind to simply come up sputtering.

    I have no clue how the hi(story?) of Eden, the flood, Jonah, vegitarianism, et al. fit in to the big equation of things but I'm sure we've all gone through our own personal mental gymnastics on these and other issues. Confidence in our knowledge is so important for those of us involved with science. We don't particularly cherish the thought of willfully disengaging our minds when we hear, "Don' worry, its the truth. Just trust me."

    But my question is how to I get past my unanswered questions so that I can confidently proclaim with utter certaincy that... "I don't know why, but I know that I know this is the Truth."

    And how do I share with someone the Proof when some of the the Givens are so... (insert 3 minutes of trying to find the right way to put this) ... based outside of or contradicting our reality we and so many other people experience daily.

    How do you deal with the unanswered nagging questions that you encounter and how do you get someone to understand how your absolute confidence comes from somewhere beyond my deepest doubts? How do you do it?

    I have to get past this if I'm going to continue to grow to where I need to be... you see... there is this pop test coming up that I desperately need to pass!

    The following are what God used to give me the final nudge to resubscribe. They are the lyrics to a couple of the songs I was listening to about an hour earlier in the night. i hope you find them as refreshing and reviving as I did. Enjoy.

      *hope you have Rich Text enabled*
    http://www.chrisrice.com/edges.htm

    Live By Faith by Chris Rice

    I can't feel You movin' inside

    I don't hear Your voice whisperin' in the night

    And I've never seen You with these eyes

    Am I a fool, am I just a fool?

    They ask how I follow what I can't see

    Why I trust in a love that my arms won't reach

    I don't need You, don't need You, to prove it to me

    I'll be a fool, yes I'll be a fool

    'Cause blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe

    And blessed are the hands that keep givin' but never receive

    Blessed is the heart that gets broken but keeps holdin' on

    Holdin' on for another day

    'Cause that's what it means to live by faith

    So I cry for Your help while the world looks on

    And they laugh at my hope when all hope is gone

    But I'll just keep prayin' when answers won't come

    Am I the fool, am I just a fool

    For standing alone while they mock Your name

    "Well if your God is so good, tell us why all the pain?"

    I'm not sure, not so sure that God is to blame

    So don't be a fool, please don't be a fool

    'Cause blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe

    And blessed are the hands that keep givin' but never receive

    Blessed is the heart that gets broken but keeps holdin' on

    Holdin' on for another day

    'Cause that's what it means to live by faith

    In a world where our questions are haunted

    'Cause life's not as fair as we all wanted

    Where the innocent die, we ask why

    And still we await the reply...

    Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe

    And blessed are the hands that keep givin' but never receive

    Blessed is the heart that gets broken but keeps holdin' on

    Holdin' on for another day

    'Cause that's what it means...it means holdin' on for another day

    'Cause that's what it means to live by faith

    Yes that's what it means to live by faith

    That's what it means to live by faith, to live by faith...

    Thirsty by Chris Rice

    I'm so thirsty, I can feel it

    Burning through the furthest corners of my soul

    Deep desire, can't describe this

    Nameless urge that drives me somewhere

    Though I don't know where to go

    Seems I've heard about a River from someone who's been/And they tell me once you reach it, oh, you'll never thirst again/So I have to find the River, somehow my life depends on the River/Holy River, I'm so thirsty

    Other waters I've been drinkin'

    But they always leave me empty like before

    Satisfaction, all I'm askin'

    Could I really feel this thirsty if there weren't something more?

    And I've heard about a River from someone who's been/And they tell me once you reach it, oh, you'll never thirst again/So I have to find the River, somehow my life depends on the River/Holy River, I'm so thirsty

    I'm on the shore now of the wildest River

    And I kneel and beg for mercy from the sky

    But no one answers, I've gotta take my chances

    'Cause something deep inside me's cryin'

    "This is why you are alive!"

    So I plunge into the River with all that I am/Praying this will be the River where I'll never thirst again/I'm abandoned to the River/And now my life depends on the River/Holy River, I'm so thirsty.


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