Tina's TEOTWAWKI Journal, Day 10

This can not only be Day 10.  It seems like longer.  I was expecting to see a Day 20, 30, etc. 

We did our first official "online for I don't know how long" church service today. 

Annnd, so did everyone else.  Which is probably why our platform crashed and we were redirected to YouTube. 

Don, our preacher, first went to Luke 13, and talked about the woman Jesus healed in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  (How dare He!)  He pointed out something subtle in what Jesus called her, "a daughter of Abraham."

Then he went to Genesis 15, where God promised Abraham  (then Abram) that Abraham's offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens.

Don then focused on four words:  "Abram believed the Lord."

Abram believed the Lord.  He believed that God would do what he promised, even though Isaac had not made his appearance yet. 

Abram, in Genesis 15, did remind God that "I remain childless, so a servant in my household will be my heir."  Uhh, you know, Lord, I'm an old man and Sarah can't have children. 

Don talked about a concept called "implicit bias", and I'm pulling this out of the top of my head because I have no notes in front of me.  Implicit bias is the way circumstances have wired us to think.  In Abraham's case, he didn't have a child and he had a barren wife.  So what could God give him? 

One of Don's points was that the way implicit bias is changed is through an intervention, which is what God gave Abraham.  He said, "Here, let me show you something."  Then He took Abraham outside and showed him the stars.  I don't know if you have ever seen the stars, the real stars, out in the middle of nowhere.  I've seen stars like that twice, once, on my 18th birthday while coming home from college and looking out the window of my sister's car while driving down US 19.  The other time was in Minnesota, where I pulled off of a road and turned my headlights off just so I could see the stars.  They are beautiful.

Abraham probably got to see the Milky Way, along with Orion and the Big Dipper and however many other constellations there are.  And he got to hear God say, "So shall your offspring be." 

God intervened.  And so Abraham believed Him, and God rewarded his faith. 

My question for myself is, Do I believe God?  I don't have a specific, deliberate promise like Abraham did; I don't have the promise of, "You will have a son in your old age."   

But what did He promise?  To be with me, to not leave me, to meet all my needs, to give me the Holy Spirit, to forgive my sins and give me eternal life with Him? 

I'm one of those who has a hard time believing.  I'm rather cynical when it comes to religion and sometimes I'm skeptical when it comes to modern-day Christianity, i.e. the religion we have made it. 

But when it comes down to God, and Jesus, and can He be trusted? 

That part, I believe. 

Even though I am currently using this as my snarky theme song: 

It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it

And I feel fine!

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.