Deep Thoughts & Prosaic Phrases

There are a great many things in my life for which I have shown tremendous neglect over the past several months. A partial list would include: My son, my classes, my devotional time, my Lord in general, my guitar students, my books, mi familia, and my friends... oh, and Azeroth. But I have also neglected this wonderful outlet for the raging torrent of thoughts, emotions, thoughtmotions, emoticons, and general complaining which have been welling up for far too long. So, in hopes of avoiding a spontaneous self-destruction, and for no other reason at all, I am writing this blog update.

So, I don't know what you all have been thinking about recently, but I have been a veritable overcrowded warehouse of troubling thoughts, and deep ponderings... I have assumed the persona of one of those "troubled souls" you hear so much about in literature and film, but without the interesting life and exciting circumstances to make it worthwhile. Do not be troubled yourselves though, as it seems the Lord is pulling me out of that pit. But what are these thoughts, these questions which have oppressed and depressed me? I don't really wanna talk about it, ok, so stop brow-beating me already!

I will say that the majority of my issues have fallen into one or both of the categories of theology and philosophy; questions about God, humanity, life, death, afterlife, eternity, the Bible, evil, suffering, etc., etc... Questions like, "Why doesn't God seem to work in the same ways He did in the past? If He is immutable then why does it appear that He has changed?" and, "If God is eternal then what was He doing (pardon the mixed metaphor) before He created the universe, and if He is unchanging then wouldn't He have never made a universe since that would constitute a universe-sized change in His pre-creation habits?" and... "I understand the existence of love to be in harmony with a good God who is both unchanging and triune, because there has always been love among the members if the Godhead, but where did His 'wrath' originate?"

These are not easy questions to answer, and so you can understand why I have been, again, troubled (to say the least). So, here's an experiment: Take your best shot at answering one or more of the above. I have answered many of the questions I have had over the past several months, or at least come to terms with the fact that I may never have an answer this side of the grave. So, this is an exercise for you. How solid is your foundation? What would you say if a genuine skeptic, a non-Christian asked you one of these questions?

Go ahead, take a stab. If our God is truly the Almighty, the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the universe and of us, then we can trust His words, the words of God the Son, when He said, "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out."