Despite implications to the contrary, I haven’t stopped writing for good. I haven’t stopped writing about religion or Christianity. I’ve even had a couple of ICoC(all branches) discussions with folks.
I stopped publicly dealing with the ICoC(all branches) and I stopped reading the websites. I would prefer to not discuss them privately, either, but a note now and then is okay. It’s a far cry from the network of contacts that I had all over the US, Canada, and the world.
Instead, I’ve been writing a lot over at Sycarion. (It has a new look, too.) I’m playing Minimus with a friend online sometime next month. I’ve been helping an online acquaintance document his linguistic generator, yould.
It’s been a busy time.
I also am pursuing my largest goal for 2008 with great effort. I want to hear the voice of God. As it is, I hear the voice of Kingdom Teachers, Kip, dozens of evangelists, BT leaders, and others, Matthew Henry, Luther, Lucado, Bounds, Nee, Stott, C.S. Lewis, Tozer, Cecil Hook, Osteen, Robertson, Swaggart, Iacocca, Maxwell, Oral Roberts, and more often than not, my own voice.
All of these are not the voice of God.
However, I also hear silence. Nothing at all. I have no memory of reading the Bible and hearing nothing at all, even as a child. It is spooky, to say the least.
In one sense, I hear the voice of friends, Foster and Wesley speak of Spiritual Disciplines. As Wesley basically said, prayer, Bible Study and Communion are the ordinary channels God uses to bestow his grace on men. I also hear Foster talking about the need to be deep, not intelligent. I feel like I spend a lot of time being intelligent without being deep. Still, with all the noise in my thoughts, I know that it is good to keep at it as far as the basics go.
As Albert Camus would say
Ah, mon cher, for anyone who is alone, without God and without a master, the weight of days is dreadful.
What I would like is the read and pray and be unable to quote anyone at all. (Remember, I’m at work – I’m confirming the quotes, not finding them.) It doesn’t have to be permanent, just enough time to feel like I’m alone with God, not a room full of people.
Paul was accused of his great learning causing him dementia. I’ve wondered the same thing sometimes. The thing is, though, I don’t really have great learning, I’m just a product of the information age with almost unlimited access. That kind of goes back to Foster talking about depth vs. intelligence. We all know what God can do with man’s intelligence. (he frustrates it)
Faith is not a matter of intelligence or learning. I believe that Jesus would say to us (and me) that we search catalogs of Christian Literature because we believe it can keep us saved, on track, useful, or otherwise moving forward in our walk with God. I think I’ll read fewer Christian books this year and spend more time looking around me.
In any case, that’s all the news fit to print with me. I guess I’m just letting everyone that I haven’t quit. God Bless.