Some of the hardest but most fruitful times in life involve transition.

Think of leaving home, going off to college, getting your first job, moving to a strange city, getting married, buying a house, having kids, changing jobs, buying a bigger house, raising your kids to be adults, buying a smaller house, retiring, stepping down from a place of leadership, moving to where your kids are or where the sun shines, leaving your house behind and buying a condo, looking after grandkids and getting ready to move one last time into a retirement residence.

The other night I had a dream, one of a handful I have ever had through which I felt God spoke to me.  I woke up with a start and realized the significance of it at once.

The subject of whether God still speaks to us is more contentious than you might think.  On the one hand, some people feel that the very idea of God still speaking undermines the authority of Scripture.  On the other hand, people attribute to God all sorts of wacky things they have concocted mostly out of their own imagination.

It’s unlikely that you would find the entire genealogy of Jesus, as recorded in the third chapter of Luke’s Gospel, adorning a plaque or fridge magnet.  Apart from its being far too long, it doesn’t have quite the inspirational zing of “Be still and know that I am God” or “The plans I have for you are for good and not for evil.”  But it does have its own powerful meaning.

I have discovered how to create a theological firestorm in an instant.

Put up a couple Instagram posts on the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and see what happens.

To my relief, the discussion was a civilized one.  I was struck by how many people are prepared to dive into a deep theological pool.  Some were responding to wrong views they feel are being taught on the subject.  Several comments indicated there are people who, whether they realize it or not, do not actually believe in the Trinity.

Christmas 2019

None of us would ever think of God as a one-armed bandit.  Yet that’s often how we approach him in prayer.  We keep putting our coin in the machine in the hope that at some point the lemons will line up and the jackpot will pour out into our waiting hands.