Did God kill this pig?

I worked today, on Sunday, at Caterpillar. Since I am going on vacation in two days and they pay you double time, I figured why not.

Gary, an older guy who works next to me, didn’t see it that way. He casually mentioned in my hearing that he would not be working, “I’m going to church Sunday.” I didn’t respond.

Gary then proceeded to tell this story: I remember my dad worked on Sunday a couple of times and it seemed that a pig would die soon after; so he quit working on Sunday. That was his story; I'm not making this up.

I needed to speak.

“The one had nothing to do with the other.” Don turned to me and talked about Sunday being a day of rest; the Sabbath. I told him we were no longer under those old rules and we had a new one to live by and did he know that Jesus had broken the sabbath.

I then asked him if he thought God had killed his dad’s pig because he didn’t go to church. By this time 5 other guys are listening to every word. He wasn't sure if God killed the pig, but he was not willing to say God had not.

I also inquired if I something bad might happen to me since I was working Sunday. His answer was consistent, maybe yes and maybe no; who knows.

I think Gary sees God as some kind of Vending Machine much like Santa Claus. Again I’ll let my friend Larry Carbb explain. “You don’t have to relate to a vending machine. Just put in your coins (religious activities) and collect your treat (blessings). I wonder how much of our worship and declarations of love for God express the same sentiment felt by a satisfied consumer walking away from a vending machine, biting into his Snickers candy bar.

We pray right. It works. The parking spot opened up. The lump disappeared. The new job came along. (The pig didn’t die.) Let’s pray more. Let’s insert more coins God is good.”

I bet God gets really really tired of being treated that way. I’m trying to relate differently to God. I just want to be with Him; get to know Him. Yes, the pages of Scripture contain what others have learned from and about God, but what about me. Does he want to reveal himself to me and to you and to us as we gather together and pray in oneness.

I want that. I want to be filled with God’s wisdom and release it into the lives of others, especially those close to me. I really want that.

Larry Crabb

I'm reading Larry Crabb's book, "The Papa Prayer" and I had to write this down and post it.

I can say with great confidence that the truth he speaks of is what has changed my entire spiritual life. I am what I am today, not because Larry helped me see it four years ago, rather it is because I belive it and this truth is becoming more and more real to me day by day.

So please read this passage from his book and take time to reflect and let me know what you think.

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What I’m about to say is either a bunch of sweet words that have as much nourishing value as a Twinkie, or it’s one of the most staggering and under appreciated truths in the Bible.
Here it is: In the center of you soul and mine, in the exact center, the Skekkinah glory resides—the literal, real, and overwhelming presence of God. And when we live out of that center, all the self-seeking, self-serving energy that guides so much of what we think and feel and do, often without even knowing it, is miraculously displaced by love.
If that’s true, then we have no choice but to admit that we don’t usually live out of that center. Something’s getting in the way. Some thick crust must be surrounding the center, blocking our access to it, leaving us in the control of that miserable, self-obessessed energy that we so easily mistake as necessary, even Christian.
I can think of nothing I want more that to enter the “sanctuary of the center” this holy place is is already in us where we can have communion with God. David knew about this sanctuary and what happens when we’re there. “The Lord confides in those who fear him,” he said in Psalm 25:14.
I long to join that conversation. I want to sit on the floor with Papa or go for a long walk with Him His arm resting on my shoulder and listen to Him tell me His secret thoughts, share with me His deepest feelings, and let me in on what He’s doing and what He wants to do through me.
Does that sound as good to you as it does to me? I want to hear Him express His love for me in ways my earthly Father never could do. And I want to be heard by Him, to know all that I’m going through. I want to feel His life, His substance, stirring in me and released from me, to know that I’m neither invisible nor weightless; that I’m being sent on a mission I’ve been equipped to handle, a mission that matters. I want to find myself in finding Him. I want to be released to be who I am in Christ. I want to so I can taste it.
And it’s possible. It’s available to me. What I want most I can have. For one reason: God Himself is in me.
Papa’s Spirit has moved into my heart and made it His home. Every minute He’s whispering that Jesus loves me, that Papa is singing over me. He’s listening to the words I say and cleaning them up so they’re fit to be presented to Papa.
He sees my most appalling fantasies, my most embarrassing failures, and reminds me Papa still welcomes me whenever I come to Him. And He tells me every day that I’m one of a kind, equipped as no one else in the history of time to advance His kingdom in unique ways that no one else has ever been asked to do. The Spirit in me is carrying Papa’s voice into my heart, where I can hear it.

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I want this more than anything else and I'm getting there.

Are we one?

Jesus said, The Father and I are one." Can we say that? Can I say, "I (John Bussone) and the Holy Trinity (The Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) are one?" Should I say that?

Does it frighten you to think about saying this out loud in front of someone? But wasn't that the point of Jesus' prayer, "that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us and the world will believe you sent me."

The reality of this prayer frightens me because Jesus made a lot of people mad when he said things like this.