Today’s scripture is Psalm 37 and the journal thoughts come from Rick Jebb when asked “Why do you believe?”. Our long time readers know Rick’s beautiful, thoughtful heart-felt writing and his heart for God. Also among these, I know him as a great friend, mentor, fellow traveler and dreamer.
Rick, why do you believe in God as Creator, Christ the Resurrected Son, and the Holy Spirit of truth?
- A simple and complex concept.
- A faith journey believing in something essentially that exists outside of space and time: Eternity.
- The idea that a subatomic object containing all the potential energy and matter for the universe one day exploded bringing the universe into existence. This is the theory of the Big Bang; sciences’ current explanation for all that exists inside space and time. Who planted this seed ostensibly from outside of space and time? Why?
- The convergence of all the best thinking throughout human civilization that embraces similar ideas of love, kindness; sacrifice; humility; the sources of human suffering; finding peace in transcendence and yielding to something than us. Essentially Jesus’s Sermon On The Mount.
- The Bible—revelation from scripture that prophesied the coming of the Messiah whom would take away the sins of the world. The fulfillment of this in the historical person of Jesus – an innocent man who was above all falsely accused, beaten, crucified and rose from the dead. Appearing to 500, and changing the lives of disciples who witness and believed these things so much so they died martyrs death, unwilling to renounce their faith. This along with several other historical sources that spoke to the Christ’s existence and these events.
- Jesus’ proclamations that he was God in the flesh, the way the truth and the life. The bread of life. One with the Father and the Spirit—the Holy Ghost, the Comforter who seeks to dwell within us. The proclamation that He is the Vine and that if we abide in him, he will abide in us. That is how we can live the life we were meant to live.
- That God’s Holy Spirit is also described as living water. The only thing that can truly quench our thirst, fulfill us.
- The innocence of childhood when I just believed in God’s power and love. A time I was filled with hope and wonder.
- The quest to return to this state of grace that seems to weave through the story of my life. God’s faithfulness and mysterious presence leading me by His Spirit to situations where I have been able to help people in unimaginable ways amidst circumstances I never would have imagined.
- Times where the powerful and overwhelming sense of God’s presence has brought me peace that transcends all understanding many times often amidst great adversity and danger.
- The concept of the ARC of a human life: from the tomb of the womb to the womb of the tomb. From whence we came we shall go. The anticipation of the next great adventure, filled with mystery and hope sustained by my faith.
- The life of my earthly father who was certifiably insane, and yet, in the periods of his life when the mental illness was held at bay, and despite his afflictions, spoke love into the lives of seven children who all considered him a good father and all have reasonable well adjusted lives of faith.
- The grandeur and majesty of nature where chaos and order coexist with danger and grace. Those places of remarkable beauty where it seems we are able to glimpse the eternal power of an almighty, and personal creator who is able to live within space and time, within us, His creation, and at the same time exist independent of space and time. That sometimes hard to describe feeling that God is speaking to us through the magnificence of this creation and all its wonders.
-Rick Jebb