My beloved Doc,
how can I NOT "yes and amen" everything you exhorted us all with your words and spirit? I PLEDGE that as well....and as I am presently (as you know) being broken....I find THIS happening; I KNOW that SI is not a "church", but a very supernatural thing happens when I read certain saints writings (really its the sounds of the steps of your heart) I so do desire to "be with you"....not a party, or a secular social occasion, NOR some turgid religious "ceremony".......but just say, for instance, sit on this porch and ponder/reason/pray/exhort/encourage the Deep Things of God......and then live life, eat together, maybe laugh, cry....what I am trying to say, in my way, is I LONG for a "Hernhutt"....and I KNOW that not everything was "rosy" at Hernhutt....and if I can be so bold, let me take that heartcry back even further, how the saints/tzadaqim lived in Acts 2:42...."called out", or "called together" BY the Holy Spirit, and not some government edict, or even "religious" edict, or the various forms of man made communitas, whether it be communism or socialism....God forbid..or even this current rubric of "modern life", that is called "capitalism", which has just really morphed into a bizarre hybrid of corporatism slash consumerism slash "individualism" mixed in with a new "god" (who is really no "god") called "high tech".
please forgive me if it seems I am rambling, i'm struggling to convey what is on my heart and soul....authentic, no guile, nor mere emotionalism, no agenda, no "flattery".....but I LONG for a communitas BASED on the Rock of Messiah Jesus and this Most Holy Faith.
David (the "brother" is implicit, ie, our physical brothers, we don't address as "brother", because in Love, we KNOW that.)...for instance, if God the Holy Spirit had not put Frank "appolus" into my life, my blade of grass life, would be very impoverished, because even though we are 900 miles apart, and our treasured fellowship is via fiber optic cables....this dear brother, this saint ...is very close to me, and dear to me, as we have opened our souls and lives to each other....and even though in physical years, I am older, I regard him as the "elder brother"...because of HIS WITNESS, said witness being, the example of how he walks out Life in Jesus, and his love for Jesus, ardent and pure, is a sure and steady Foundation for OUR brotherhood, whilst in these jars of clay.
I did not write that to "tickle" ANYBODIES ear, but there are quite a few saints HERE, my spirit just draws me to, and I cant put it into HUMAN words....why, except to say, and it was Duncan Campbell's usage of the word "supernatural", to embolden me to say that a follower of Jesus Christ is a "supernatural being".....meaning "things happen" and sometimes, we can't say why or how they happen in God's Sovereign Plan...all I can do, is hold close these Words of Jesus; "Don't be afraid, just believe." (I was in Mark today, chapters 1 thru 6, in the 4th watch of the night. and that Word, among others buried Itself in my soul)
(red letters) "Don't be afraid, just believe."
in the spirit of your post/heartcry, let me share JUST one more thing, my dear brother; when I was so little, an 8 year old Jewish boy...in the synagogue, where from the first second I walked through those doors, God was always SO REAL to me, which was and is a Precious Gift given to me...and this Gift DID NOT come from "my mind", the Gift came from the Lord, our God, our Messiah, and it is the ONLY "thing" holding my soul together, TODAY, while I am being broken...but we children would be taught songs of God's Love in Hebrew, and even though almost a half century has passed, I can still sing them from heart memory....one such song, precious, is entitled "Hinay Ma Tov", its Psalm 133:1, i "give" it to you, in Jesus' Love:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvn_prHzmQk
please forgive me if i seem long winded, i'm just lonely, in ill health(semi bed ridden), and being put thru the Refiner's Fire....not complaining, oh no, if God our Father did not love me, he would not subject me to discipline....but i know you know this too, God love you Doc, neil
