I have to admit that I was really bothered by the story told by one of our members last Monday where her ex-husband was told to leave their church because he wouldn't stop divorce proceedings. Here's a commentary I read based on Luke 5:27-32 -"Pharisees were concerned that Jesus, being a rabbi, would become unclean by his association with such people. But it didn't seem to bother Jesus, and that is greatly to our benefit today. After all, we too are sinners, and Jesus doesn't reject us. Every time we gather to celebrate, we come to a place full of others just like us - sinners in desparate need of redemption. Despite our weaknesses and flaws, Jesus shows up. Just as he did for Levi and his guests, Jesus offers us his healing, forgiving, and transforming power. This is not just a theory to help us feel good. It's a promise from the Son of God himself."

What I don't get is this - if this person is not at this time accepting the Word of God, how can the solution to that be to prevent him from hearing it any more? Isn't he even more in need of hearing it until he accepts it's truth? And isn't everyone in a church in the same broken state? Don't we all need to have the truth hammered into us again and again? I think Jesus sheds a tear every time a church turns someone away, regardless of what that person is doing or thinking.

Dedicate Yourselves to Thankfulness

"Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness. Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you." Colossians 3:15-16

Hi, friends. Here's that passage I was talking about yesterday. Whenever I think I have it bad, I try to think of this verse and it helps me put things in a new frame of mind. The list of things we have to be thankful for is long indeed, while the list of things that aren't so good is, thankfully, much shorter.

Jim

Chapter 6 Reflection

Isn't it great for us that Mr. Arterburn focused this chapter on accepting and embracing his divorce? What a simple, obvious concept - to fully heal from something, you have to embrace that it has happened. I don't know about you guys, but I when I was separated and eventually divorced it felt like being an athelete traded to a new team against his will. On top of that, I was traded from a team I loved to be on (Marriage) to our arch-rivals (Divorce)! It was important for me to accept fully that this "trade" happened in order to be a good player for team Divorce and be the best divorced man and ex-husband I could be. Looking forward to our discussion tonight.

Mark 8:11-13

Goes with what we were talking about last night, especially when people in our live are continuing to pour negative things at us, from The Word Among Us:

"Surrounded by unrelenting Pharisees who were trying to test him, Jesus would have been justified in losing his temper. But Jesus never returned their hostility with venom of his own. When his tormentors asked him for yet another sign, Jesus 'sighed from the depths of his spirit'. Although clearly frustrated by their persistent unbelief, he didn't retaliate. He simply gave them his message and quietly moved on.

We can do more than just try to imitate Jesus, or worse just give up. Jesus' own divine strength can become our strength. We can ask him to bear our aggravation and frustrations. When we embrace godly self-control in our moments of anger, it's a sign that his Spirit is at work in us."

So Far?

Just a check on the progress of our group - 4 chapters into our book, I'm very encouraged to find that I can confirm that I took positive steps towards healing in the past, and I'm also discovering new things I am learning I must deal with. How about everyone else? Comments, please.

From the official help desk

Team members who have not yet switched to the new version will still see the blog on their dashboards, but it will be grayed out and inaccessible. Once those members move their own accounts to the new version of Blogger, they will be able to access the blog as before. If they can't yet switch, or don't wish to, they can ask the owner of the blog for a new invitation to join the blog on the new version. They can then accept that invitation by logging in to or creating a Google Account to post to that blog. (Later on, when they do switch their Blogger account to the new version, they'll have an option to merge it with this account.)

Posting

I'm still trying to figure out how to make this easily accessible for you. I've gone back to the other version simply because people who were able to post before could no longer post. I suspect you may need to sign in each time with your email address and password. Let's give this another try. I think it could be a helpful outlet. Maybe I'm being selfish because I know I can't be at group for the next several weeks. I will miss our discussions.