He didn’t whisper in my ear saying “You should go into ministry.” But God’s mark is all over my journey. God may not have reached into people’s bank account and moved money. To say that God played no active part in this guidance is to deny the existence of God. As I grow and learn and realize who I am, I awaken to those gifts and abilities and recognize my proper place in the world. I was created and born with certain gifts and abilities. Fundraising in that way is not a gift I have.Īnd that is a commentary on God leading me in life. I was awkward and uncomfortable and needless to say, didn’t pursue campaigning for very long. “Campaigning” mostly consisted of making phone calls asking people for money. As many of you know, last year, I briefly campaigned for elected office in Oklahoma. Think of it in contrast to past attempts at fundraising on my part. Through this, God has led me to the proper path for my life. But, through trusting in the goodness of others inspired by the spirit of charity that God imbues in us all, I can make the trip. Without these donations, I could not go to Lincoln and continue on my journey of ordination. This money that I have received is truly an example God providing, of God making something that seemed impossible, possible, in an active way. So in the past, I abstained from crediting any earthly happening to the hand of God.īut I’m starting to acknowledge some nuance in my view. Thus, a God who chooses to save some but refuse to act in the case of others is a cold-hearted God who is anything but “all-merciful.” Because everyday millions of people suffer and die from illness, car wrecks, poverty, war, and a million other reasons. I think a God who would do these things is a sick God. I don’t think God magically “heals” the sick from heaven, or pushes our car a little farther forward to avoid the oncoming semi.
But I don’t think God actively interferes in the day-to-day happenings of out lives. I believe he is intimately concerned with us and our actions. I don’t say this to mean God is uninterested and checked out on human kind.
I’m not the most coherent theologian yet. We have bearing upon the operation of the clock, and can but positively and negatively influence it’s operation.
#God the clockmaker free#
God set the world into motion, but gave us free will to act. (I don’t, however, subscribe to the traditional clockmaker doctrine of predestination. He may not cause hurricanes, but he doesn’t stop them either, and he has given us brains and abilities to be able to avoid and survive the worst nature has to offer.
God wants us to understand the world around us, so that we might not live in fear and darkness, so he lets the world run according to nature. (I have in fact self-identified as a deist in the past.) In my view, God set up an orderly, rational universe that moves according to the laws of nature as initiated by God. My understanding of the active nature of God generally falls along the “Clockmaker” line of thinking.
I want to meditate here for just a minute on the blessing from God that this money really is, and how I reconcile that in my mind. It’s heartening to know all the support I have as I begin this new phase of life. The gifts I received from so many are wonderful and gladly accepted. Earlier today, I easily rolled past the goal I had set. In order to afford the expense of this trip while living on a single income, I set up a GoFundMe page to raise money. This will be a great opportunity to learn and fellowship and connect with others who are on the same journey I am on right now. Next week, I travel to Lincoln, NE to attend a Candidacy Summit for ordination candidates in the Great Plains conference.
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