Skip to main content

Providence

Romans 8:28
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

I think God uses the events in our lives to change us and others, whether those events are personal choices or uncontrollable events. There have been no times in my life when I have been closer to God, and when I have been more willing to listen to him, than those in which I have felt so utterly alone. While I caused those events, or allowed them to happen, God used them to mold me into the man he intends me to be.

At the same time, I believe that we-- and the choices we make-- are the product of both our experiences and our inherent makeup. There is a reason I'm writing on this subject right now instead of fighting fires or eating ice cream. Not only am I inherently interested in learning, but I've also been exposed to others whose answers to questions like this have sparked my own interest. Newton once wrote to Robert Hooke, "You have added much several ways...If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." In a similar way, I feel I've been influenced by those around me to take the course of life I've chosen; and while that course is lined by what at times seem to be insurmountable fences, the reality is that there are unlocked gates here and there that offer the freedom to walk this way and that. Our paths are confined in some ways, but we have the ultimate choice to leave it if we so choose. This is a gift of God.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Nice Guy Fallacy

I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as...

Persuasion

At different points in history, governments have devoted men, women, and resources to try to persuade others to their side. One significant example of this occurred in Germany under Adolf Hitler. Hitler knew how important it was to make sure the German people were on his side as leader of the country. One way he did this was by controlling what people heard. Specifically, near the beginning of World War II, Hitler made it a crime for anyone in Germany to listen to foreign radio broadcasts. These were called the “extraordinary radio measures.” He did this to ensure that Germans weren’t being persuaded by enemy countries to question their loyalty to Hitler. He knew that a German listening to a radio broadcast from Britain might persuade that German to believe that Great Britain was the good guy and Hitler the bad guy. This was so important, in fact, that two people in Germany were actually executed because they had either listened to or planned to listen to a foreign radio broadcast (one...

Experiment

My social studies students and I are studying Islam right now. The other day, we were reading about one of the Five Pillars, zakat (charity in Islam that means "that which purifies"). Muslims believe that giving away money helps to purify it and also "safeguards [them] against miserliness" (1). I asked the class if this was true, that giving money away makes us less greedy. They generally agreed that it does. I wanted to test whether or not they really believed this, so I handed a volunteer a $10 bill. I told the class that I would ask for the bill back the next day. I said that they should pass the bill around among their classmates, and that as a result, there would be no way for me to know who had the bill. For that reason, whoever wanted to keep the money could keep it. Even if I did learn who kept it, I told them, I would not punish that person. I wanted them to be motivated by their own honesty. The next day, I asked for the bill, and a student handed it to me...