WireLESS Washington

I travel to Tacoma, Washington for 4 days and get back to find I have missed out on some serious double stack quail burgers on a toasted manna bun (someone is thinking, "why quail?". trust me, its Biblical). Apparently, there is no wireless in Tacoma, Washington. Sweet state Blake. Anyway, between the Elijah heat missile and the hardened heart comments, I feel like I've really missed out on some good conversation. And I read further to find us starting to get on the topic of being lukewarm. If Nolan starts spitting from Crazy Love then be prepared to be cut wide open. Back to the hardened hearts for a sec. Romans 9 declares that God has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. It goes on to say that this may cause you to ask why God can condemn a heart that He Himself hardened. The answer Paul gives is very similar to the answer Job got. The answer is.... "who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, 'why have you made me like this?' Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?" Is that deep or what? Marinate on that for a while and see where it takes you. If God hardens whom He wants to harden for His purpose and has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy then how great must you feel to know that you are on the winning side of His purpose? And as you begin to feel great about God's grace towards your life, how incredibly helpless and lowly do you feel in comparison to God's sovereignty? Romans 9 is a powerful chapter full of heavy content but it has given me some insight into why perhaps nonbelievers sometimes just don't get it. That being said, it fills me with great joy that I can log onto the site for the first time in 4 days and see that I missed so much in such a short time period. This group ranks high on the list of greatest things that have happened in my life. Seriously, its like Tyler said in one of his comments. This group fixes my wandering eyes back on Christ and therefore keeps my path straight. If I miss my fellowship fix then I slowly lose focus. I love you guys and I love Jesus!

-Terry

PS - Jules, that little book of gold is just that. It's a must read.