Another Angle
I posted a comment on a friends blog a few days ago, and thought that I would share it here too. When I started at university I had to move away from from home. Not far . . . just about a one hour drive. In any case, it involved a move and, therefore, new friends, new church, new environment, etc.
After just a couple of weeks, one of the churches I had been attending had a welcome dinner for college students following one of the services. Major Lorne Pritchett was the Corps Officer at the time and we got chatting sometime during the meal.
He gave me a piece of advice that has not left me since. I've moved, in some degree, several times since that first year of universtity. But he told me:
"You're not in [university] to go to school. You're here because God has something for you to do in here, and university is just the way that He's arranged to have you here."I've never forgotten that. It has been at the forefront of my mind with every move, with every change really, that my life has experience since then. It's good advice.
So wherever you find yourself, God has something for you to do.
Grace,
Des
3 comments:
That's so very true! Lorne is a wise (and funny) man. When God opens a door, he is waiting on the other side to guide us along his path.
Hmmm. I'm not sure how I feel about that one.
I don't think your friend is necessarily a fatalist, but his advice does suggest a belief in temporal predestination. What do you / your church believe in that respect? Is the underlying belief behind his advice that temporal matters are pre-ordained by God, and that eternal matters are subject to freedom of choice? That we can choose to accept or reject eternal salvation, but God's plan for our earthly lives is fixed? If we think we are departing from the path He has set for us ... guess again, that was His plan all along? I struggle with the idea of predestination because it sometimes seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy. A way for believers to justify the omniscience of God after-the-fact.
Do you know where I can find some details on Salvation Army theology? I found a brief list of doctrines on their website, but it wasn't very specific.
Hi...just reading through some of your posts. Couldn't help but notice how you were also impacted by the wisdom of Major Lorne.
(I've never had him as a Corps Officer, however I have been 'priveledged' to sit under his ministry at Leadership camp, and other occasions.)
Nothing is by coincidence. Everything happens for a reason, and God does place us where he wants us...Than it's up to us, to obey him, in following his instructions as to what he wants us to do. (I think at times, that's where alot of us go wrong. That's how we go "off-track"...)
God bless.
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