Week 8 Reflective Peace Like a River

Is it possible to have peace in mist of such consequences as we have read in the story so far?

As I think about the father and all that is happening to him and His kids I think about how God bless those who belong to Him with peace whenever they pray and put their trust in Him. As we read in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  This truth comforts and encourages me to pray and put my trust in God.

I know in my own life I have experienced times where it seemed that the whole world was against me with all its powers. Especially when I came to Christ, I remember the conflicts with friends, work, and family. For I have obeyed the Lord’s calling to follow Him and forsake all the sins in and around me. This caused great distress for me. However, when I prayed, I truly felt the peace of the Lord in me. This is beyond comprehension, but I know it to be true.

There were other times that I have seen brothers who truly love the Lord go through deep pains, such as the lost of a loved one. However, in the mist of their pain they always had peace in the Lord. This is one of the mysteries of God. John Piper said “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” This, I believe, is one of the reasons why the Lord allows His children to go through trials and yet still have His peace.

Week 7 Annotation: The Road

As I worked on my questions for Reading 3 on The Road, I noticed something that really grabbed my attention. The “fire” in this part of the reading seems to be representing “love”.

 As we read on page 145, the old man said, “I’ve not seen a fire in a long time, that’s all. I live like an animal. You don’t want to know the things I’ve eaten.” This I believe, is referring to the fact that the old man had not experienced love in a long time as he said "I live like an animal." and he was feeling loved as they were feeding him , which no one else had fed him before. As we read on page 143, when the father is questioning the old man, the father says “People give you things. Yes. To eat. To eat. Yes. No they don’t. You did.”

We also see it earlier in the story when the old man looked at the boy, the author also mentions the fire on page 143, “Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave. He lifted his head and looked across the fire at the boy. Then he looked at the men.” This could be showing that the old man saw love in the boy. In addition to that, on our reading 4, the Father mentions that there could be a Father and a boy on the other side of the ocean, the boy asks “And they could be carrying the fire too?” And, we have seen through the story that the fire is something they are carrying and others aren’t.

I think, this symbolism of the fire could be important to our reading because this could be the author's implication of love in his own relationship with his son and how he views the lack of love in the world. This could mean that, according with the author the world around us is lacking that kind of love and perhaps the author only sees that love through his son or in their relationship. As it is told that he wrote this book in dedication to his own son.

We can also use this symbolism to reflect in the author's implication to the idea that no one is carrying the fire to think about the world around us. Does the world seems like it needs love? Perhaps we could ask ourselves are we carrying the "fire", the true "fire"?

Week 6 Reflective Post: Death Be Not Proud

Alive In Christ!

A reflection from "Death Be Not Proud", by John Donne, and class discussion.

After our discussion in class I felt comforted by the reminder that, as one who follows Christ, death does not have power over my life.

As we discussed in class, the Word of God says, “O Death, where [is] your sting? O Hades, where [is] your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). This made me think about what the Spirit of God is referring to in this verse. So I continued reading, the next two verses says, “The sting of death [is] sin, and the strength of sin [is] the law. But thanks [be] to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56,57). So I concluded that the Spirit is truly referring to the spiritual death that comes from sin… as we know, “the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This many would argue that is the only true death, because sin will cause someone to be dead (without God) in this life and in Hell. On the other hand, repentance from sin through Christ will cause as to be alive to God in this life and in Heaven. Hallelujah!Praise the Lord! Our Lord Jesus Christ has delivered us from sin so that we may not experience death, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:57. In conclusion, the next verses confirmed my thought and made me praise the Lord even more so.

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For [the death] that He died, He died to sin once for all; but [the life] that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:8-11)