08 May 2008

One...hell...of a week.

Last Sunday, Shan and I dedicated our little Elijah to the LORD. I mentioned before how much time and thought went into what we were going to say in our covenant. We took (and take) it very seriously.

I believe that part of that process was thinking about it, seriously considering what to say, and how best to articulate what we mean when we are thinking about it. We also believe that when we ask God to enter into a covenant like we did on Sunday, it will happen. It's all part of the mystery how it actually happens, but we believe that God will hold us to the covenant. Not so much as in a stern parent waiting for us to mess it up, and then saying "I told you so", but more as in a concerned parent coming along side his children and helping them when they ask and need His help.

I recently have been reading Wild at Heart, by John Eldridge, and there is a chapter in the book about spiritual warfare. One of the best tactics of the Enemy, he says, is convincing us that we are not at war. That there isn't a battle raging around us and through us. He says that when we begin to understand our position, and our role in God's New Creation, that when we take spiritual warfare seriously, we should expect some opposition.

Well, given the week we just had, I would have to say that we are experiencing some opposition.

Now, I still do not know how I feel about this whole thing. If I am being honest, when I consider the idea of Satan, I find it hard to swallow. It seems to me that this particular doctrine, at least in my tradition, has been overused as an excuse for those who have messed up somehow. I haven't bought it all the way, and feel that the things I have been told and taught about Satan and Hell are simply stories to make us feel better about our issues, and to convince us that Christianity is better than the alternative.

Some may say that simply the fact that I think this is evidence enough that Satan exists, and is attempting to cloud himself in secrecy and disbelief to the detriment of my spiritual health.

Perhaps.

But I would say that I feel a strong compulsion to examine everything, test it, reason it, poke it, think it out. And I feel this is important, even necessary, in order to have a healthy spirituality.

I digress. This past week was difficult, for both my wife and I. Monday was the worst. It was brutal. Shan had an absolutely bone-crushing day at work. After such a busy weekend, she and I were low on our "Eli time", and really felt like we had not seen him in days.

When she came home, after running around after work and picking up Eli, bone tired, she went downstairs to find our basement full of cat poop. This is a problem we have been dealing with for quite some time, and it's now getting to the point where we are out of options. The medication is not working, and we can't seem to get him to stay in the litter box.

Tuesday we had some family issues, just another thing to worry about. Also we got word on our cat issue, and everyone else we've talked to is out of ideas, including our vet.

Yesterday, I ran into Meijer real quick on my way in to work, and someone backed into my Blazer. So now I have a fairly good sized gouge in the hood, along with an awesomely bad looking dent. I pushed some of it back out, but it's gonna need a bit of work.

And today, we talked further with our vet, and though she absolutely did not want to, said it might be in our (and our cat's) best interest to consider euthanasia.

All these things could be separate posts, but for now, suffice it to say that I am beginning to think that perhaps all this stuff happening right after we dedicated our family to God is no coincidence.


wingnut

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Spiritual Warfare is definitely a reality. Eldridge is right regarding Satan's methodology in North America. If the enemy can convince us we're not at war, we'll easily just slip into our doldrums and won't accomplish much at all for God, and in fact will likely blame God for things that go wrong.
In other parts of the world (like Haiti which I visit annually) Satan is a bit more open.
I've often summed it up this way, "Satan rules Haiti through Fear but he rules North America through Ignorance."

Tom