Here is a very practical use of A.I. for those who engage in discussions online. 

I was criticized for a post I made, and, of course, I thought they were wrong, and misunderstood the point of the post, and were rude in their comments.

So, I energetically wrote my response as tactfully as I could and was about to hit "enter" when I thought, 

'I wonder if this is somewhat passive aggressive? 

Was there a barb to my response?

So I cut and pasted my response to A.I. 

asking it to remove or rewrite anything passive aggressive. 

Sheesh!!!!  The whole thing was!!!!! LOL 

The rewritten A.I. response was so gracious, and far more effective than what I wrote, I was truly amazed!

I want to be a gracious person, promoting unity even when discussing opposing views, but to be honest, I'm pretty defensive and, I'm beginning to see, very competitive.

 

  Each week I face a group of strangers at the service in the jail—a hardened lot, with pasts so horrific, survivors of such vicious abuse and oppression, that one can scarcely imagine living through it.

And there I stand, equipped with nothing but my prayer that Christ will fall upon every heart, that His Spirit will descend and bring life to hearts surrounded by walls so impenetrable that only God can prevail.

And He does. Hardened faces begin to grimace, lips, long trained to mock danger, start to quiver, heads bow, and eyes begin to water as a tear streams over a prison tattoo. Ferocity and bravado begin to be eclipsed by the Holy Spirit, and the inner child starts to push through all their resistance. A visible change takes place.

This—this is the power of prayer and the wonder-working, matchless love of Jesus.

 

 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." Heb. 12:1-3

When I thought about this it made me think that we need the ancient "cloud of witnesses” but we also desperately need a living cloud surrounding us right now.

God has graced me with men and women in my association that are ablaze with God's Spirit, eager to serve Him, tireless in spreading His love in word and deed. Rescuing those entrapped in the jaws of wickedness and making no small effort to see them released! Wise and steadfast Christians that have endured so much and stood true. 

I'm reminded of oldest son who has faithfully pastored the spiritually hungry, the least, last and lost, the afflicted and tormented, the poor, the refugee and those bound up in Satan's clutches, and doing so for over thirty years! 

My middle son who resisted God's grace for a long season only to have Christ fall on him, and lit an unquenchable fire in his bones; and now he ministers Christ to those in the desperation of substance abuse. 

My youngest son, who walked straight into the darkest lairs of child trafficking, risking his life to snatch innocent children from predators’ hands.

I’ve watched as his son, my grandson, who followed his father's footsteps entering the dangers of war to help rescue the wounded from the front lines of battle midst the chaos and danger. 

And I think of his friend, who trained to be a medic where she too, braved the bombs and bullets to give lifesaving aid to the wounded and maimed, many of which would have surely died without her brave, skilled hands as she attended to the horrors of war; only to be nearly killed by a bomb blast that left her terribly disfigured and had died but for the advocacy of my family. 

These are my living "Clouds of witness" that surround me, as well as many others that have shown the way of courageous faith, setting aside gain and safety to reach others for Christ. People that have lost their lives! Lost their health, and stood unshakeable in life's dangers and griefs, patient, devoted in sickness, affliction and harrowing danger. 

  Iron sharpens iron, faith bequeaths faith, so seek out those who burn to obey the high calling of Christ. Run to them. Join them. Step into that cloud—ancient and living—and become part of the witness yourself. 

Let us throw off every weight.

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us". 

 I watched a movie about the loss of a child, and this remark really struck me as two grieving parents talked about their loss --- 

“Will the hole in your heart ever get smaller? 

No, it never does, 

but the person we lost leaves us with so much, 

we grow; 

and with time, the hole becomes proportionally smaller.”

 

 

You will many earnest-hearted Christians cast all their religious passion and spirit, which was meant by God to support them through all their serving and charitable work, into grievous and vain meditation over the meaning of the Bible, of which 

no syllable was ever yet to be understood but through a deed.”

John Ruskin.