Last night there were eight women at the jail Bible study. As always a tapestry of ages and colors and ethnicities. I can hardly describe how privileged we are as Christians to posses a book that speaks truth into every age, every sorrow, every soul, and every society.

We began in Isaiah 58:6, where the Lord unfolds both His heart and His command for all who would join their hearts to His and live beneath the gentle authority of His kingdom rule.  

"Is this not the fast (religious life) that I choose:

To release the chains of wickedness, to lighten the load of those heavily burdened, to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression." 

The Lord Himself chose to begin with that verse, and there we stopped to ponder and talk about what that meant to each person. There were many answers and you could almost see each mind quietly searching its own wounds, memories, and hopes to understand how these words touched their lives. 

One woman brought up addiction, another of domestic violence: we discussed racism, the crushing tyranny of political dictators, the grievous evil of child trafficking and the silent oppression of child abuse and the horrors of sexual assault.  

And as we talked, it seemed to settle over us that if this spirit — this mercy-filled attitude of heart — truly grew within humanity, whole nations could begin to heal. The world itself would breathe easier beneath the far-reaching kindness of God’s loving mercy.  

 

 

Here is a word of advice for girls written by Frances Willard, considered the most influential woman of the 19th century and was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.  I think her advice is  equally good for boys. 

“My dear girls, dreaming is the poorest of all grindstones on which to sharpen one’s wits. To my mind, the rust of woman’s intellect 

and the worm in the bud of her noblest possibilities 

has been this aimless reverie: 

this wandering of thought, this vagueness that ends in emptiness. 

Let us look inward, those of us who are not fully engaged in work of brain or hand. 

What do we find? 

A mild chaos; 

a glimmering nebula of fancies; 

an insipid brain-soup 

where a few lumps of thought drift in a watery gravy of dreams. 

And since nothing comes from nothing, what wonder if no brilliance of achievement seems likely to light our future? 

Few women, under the present order of things, can claim complete freedom from this grave intellectual infirmity. 

Somehow one falls so readily into a sort of mental indolence; 

one's thoughts flow onward in a pleasant, gurgling stream, 

a sort of intellectual lullaby, 

coming no-whence, going no-whither. 

Only one thing can help you if you are in this extremity, 

and that is what your brothers have — 

the snag of a fixed purpose in this stream of thought. 

Around it will soon cluster the dormant ideas, hopes, 

and possibilities that have thus far floated at random.” Frances Willard.

 

"I’ve talked about the sudden change of heart that happens when a new faith opens up inside someone. Early Christianity clearly recognized this as possible.

Philosophers are partly right when they emphasize the power of habit and how slow, difficult, and gradual moral improvement usually is. They doubt abrupt conversions can happen. But they don’t have the whole truth. 

I believe the popular view—that real change can strike suddenly—contains a deep reality. Most genuine popular beliefs about inner human experience usually do. It’s true that instant, total transformation of the mind is rare, especially today. Yet nearly all the most remarkable moral recoveries we see (and there are far too few) happen exactly this way.

Yes, the normal path—wrestling your way out of destructive passions through sheer willpower and reason—is slow and exhausting. If all change worked like that, the philosophers would be correct to call it uncommon and laborious. But real transformation often comes from a higher, more powerful source. 

It begins with a new, intense feeling—a fresh surge of reverence, shame, or love—that then pulls reason and conscience along behind it. 

The bad habits and failings aren’t carefully dug out one by one like weeds in a garden. Instead, they’re burned away in a sudden blaze of divine shame and love.

This kind of change cannot be planned or counted on. Trying to calculate or schedule it is extremely dangerous. The deepest movements of the soul pull away from our schemes and predictions. They come unannounced—or not at all. 

If you try to force or rely on them, you only drive them further away, revealing how barren your own heart has become. Self-cure is incredibly hard. What is impossible for us on our own may be entirely possible for God.

In the end, denying that such sudden changes can happen—while pretending to be wise about human nature—actually shows a profound ignorance of real people." James Martineau.

 

Chance encounters

When I go to the mission it's rare to come away without an unforeseen  blessing. I go to mentor one of the men in the drug and alcohol recovery program and while waiting for him I struck up a conversation with another man in the program, let's call him Jose. I asked him what it was that made him decide to come to the mission. He told me he was a gang-banger in L.A. and at some point he got fed up with the life and joined Salvation Armies program, stayed with it and graduated from it. After graduating he wanted to move away from his familiar stomping grounds and that's what took him to Portland. He stayed with Salvation Army in one of there programs, and was doing well until.... he met some "wild-eyed" beauty that swept him off his feet, and he left the program. She lived in a rough part of town and to make a long story short, one night while he was with her, two men started kicking down the door! She ran to the bathroom and he, dazed and confused, was just standing when the men burst in. They both drew on him with 9mm's and from six feet opened up and fired at him 15 times! When they began shooting he said it was like everything turned to slow motion, but amazingly he felt the presence of the Lord on him so strongly he felt no fear! He felt a bullet tear into his left arm but felt nothing else. After one of them ran out of ammo. and the other's gun jammed, they turned and ran out leaving him standing there with blood everywhere. His girlfriend came out of the bathroom, saw him and he called out and said, "Help me." Then he collapsed. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital. 

That was enough, after he recovered, he left her and headed to the bus station to go back home. On his way, as it happened, a fella who works at the Union Gospel mission program, struck up a conversation, and he found himself joining the mission. 

The bullet that struck him hit his forearm, bounced off a bone and traveled up his arm and bypassed his heart by a millimeter, and stopped lodged in the back of his shoulder! He promptly took off his shirt and had me feel the tip of the bullet right under his skin! The surgeon's scar was nearly the length of his entire arm! 

Just then, the man I came to meet entered, let's call him Bill, he is friends with Jose, the man sharing the story, and they say they belong to the club of "Fifteen." Fifteen mercies, Bill overdosed on Fentanyl 15 times before he fled to Christ, and Jose was shot at close range 15 times, and all the bullets missed him but one, and that was in his arm. I'll tell you, the presence of the Holy Spirit was so heavy on all three of us I thought my soul was going to burst! 

 Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

 

What is “The Mind of Christ?

"She felt her way through her deep thoughts, 

guided by a grief-awakened inner light, 

she saw things about humanity that transcend time and space."

This sentence is poetic language describing how Simone Weil came to a fuller wisdom.

It suggests she did not arrive at insight only through logic or academic analysis. 

She “felt her way through her deep thoughts” which means she thought with the whole person—

mind, 

conscience, 

compassion, 

and lived sensitivity. 

She explored truth carefully, through education like we all do by eyes, mind, reason and conscience, but also, almost by touch, through reflection and inward honesty by her term, "Grief awakened inner light."

“Guided by a grief-awakened inner light” means 

suffering or sorrow had awakened something in her: 

moral clarity, 

tenderness, 

seriousness, 

spiritual perception

In short, Christ likeness. 

Grief often strips away illusions. 

It can make a person less impressed by status, power, and superficial success, 

and more able to recognize pain, injustice, and what truly matters.

“Inner light” which I take to mean the “mind of Christ,” 

refers to conscience, 

insight, or our spiritual faculty 

that helps one perceive truth beyond appearances.

Finally, “she saw things about humanity that transcend time and space” 

That means her observations were not limited to one era, country, or circumstance. 

“Go into all the world.”  As Jesus said. 

She understood patterns of human nature that remain true across generations: 

power and oppression, 

suffering and dignity, 

blindness and compassion, 

ego and grace.

In simpler words: Because suffering deepened her heart and sharpened her conscience, Simone Weil was able to understand enduring truths about what human beings are really like and feel.

All through the gospels Jesus makes care for the poor, oppressed, downtrodden and suffering central to following Him, it is tied to 

eternal reward, 

judgment, 

and imitating His own mission.

 

The “least of these” in Matthew 25 is especially broad, covering 

physical poverty, 

imprisonment (oppression), 

illness, 

and social exclusion.

 Jesus lived this out by eating with outcasts, healing the marginalized, and giving His life for the downtrodden.

Jesus began winning my heart by speaking to me through a secular song.

I was married as a teen and we were both very immature and had not one tool in our box to make a marriage work. It was the late sixties and the temptations were high, the times were rebellious and the popular slogan of the time was, "God is dead."

I assure you He was not dead, and the largest revival the world ever saw was during the late sixties and early seventies where a world wide revival swept through like a might wind.

I see signs of it now, and I pray it grows midst, what in some ways,

are the darkest of times.

I'll paste the link to the song that began my salvation experience.

He used this song to open my heart and that very night I picked up a Bible and began reading about Jesus.

The Holy Spirit fell with such force I found Him irresistible,

long before I knew what the Holy Spirit was!

That experience taught me the truth of the following quote --

"In all churches individuals are better than their denomination, creed, or doctrines, and amidst gross error and indoctrination,

which is often of a very narrow spirit,

noble virtues spring up, and eminent Christians are formed.

God always looks for a seeking spirit,

and even in the midst of many errors,

His truth will penetrate the heart. "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4WGPxg9jPQ&list=RDs4

"Someone says, “I have a rebellious heart and an unholy life. When I look honestly at myself, I get totally discouraged. I know temptation and feeling abandoned by God are bad enough, but if my heart and my daily life were truly good, I wouldn’t feel this way. Yet I keep committing serious sins—so don’t I have every reason to be discouraged?”

No. Discouragement itself is a sin—a “gospel sin.” Your failures under the law are never a good excuse to break the gospel by losing heart. Yes, every sin is far worse than any suffering or punishment. Hardships are only the first scratch of sin’s claws. But here’s the truth that changes everything: even though the sins of God’s people dishonor the Holy Spirit, wound the name of Jesus, and damage the reputation of the gospel, believers still have zero reason to stay discouraged. Why?

Because you will never be condemned for your sin—no matter how great it is. The Bible is clear: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Christ was made sin for you. If He took your sin on Himself, that sin can never destroy you. God’s justice will not make you pay a debt twice. Jesus wasn’t just arrested for your debt—He was locked up and paid it in full, to the very last penny. He paid it better than you ever could have, even if you had gone to hell yourself. The bill is settled. The case is closed. So stop letting your sins talk you into despair. Christ has already handled them completely."

William Bridge, "A lifting up for the downcast" 1600s.

 “We all long to have our “youth renewed like an eagle’s.”

At first glance, the surest path to happiness seems simple: hold on to that carefree childhood zest, when everything felt fresh, exciting, and full of wonder. A lucky few, bursting with vitality, manage to keep that spark alive their whole lives.

I remember a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson telling me this story. Stevenson was alone in London, and about to set off on a lonely sea voyage.

He dropped in on his friend, who was also packing for a trip the next day and had to rummage through the junk-filled attic for his trunks.

Stevenson begged to come along.

There, perched on a broken chair amid the dusty clutter, he spun an entire wonderful romance out of the random stuff lying around.

That kind of eager, childlike freshness is something most of us lose as we grow older.

Instead, we’re left fighting off weariness and drudgery, trying not to become just tired commuters plodding through our endless to-do lists and burdens.

The real question is: can we find some kind of “medicine” for the soul—something that revives our fading sense of wonder, brings back the delight and untroubled zest we felt as children when everything new felt magical, and pushed back against the dullness and staleness of everyday adult life?”

Arthur C. Benson.

I love this little story and it brings so many thoughts to mind.

In Psalm 103 the Lord says -

"He satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."

To live having our desires satisfied by "good things",

and not the evil bread of darkness, is one of God's greatest gifts to us.