April's Thoughts

       "So Peter was kept in Prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." Acts 12:5 He felt a chill go down his spine, despite the summer heat rolling around in the arid darkness.  Walking briskly down the shadowy alley just made his mind fill with all sorts of horrors. The large garage type doors that opened into the alley felt like they all had monsters hidden inside. The high arched frames over the columns of the previous courtyard and the mountains way in the distance seemed to all be snickering at him with an evil smile. How did they even think they could get away with this? Why was he joining with this church that was pastored by the zealous Parsa, when he knew that real men, with real guns, with real threats were close by. He was not really a part of this movement. Why was he here? Parsa had been an interesting person to make as the centerpiece of his article, but that interview in the light and laughter of the day seemed so long ago. And...

  WARNING!  WARNING! The world is shrinking. The world is shrinking.  No, it’s not some upside down physics phenomenon declaring the opposite of entropy. It's not some optical illusion. It is what is happening to many of us as individuals.   It is the curse of selfishness.   It is the curse found in the Garden of Eden. The enemy of our souls wants us steeped in selfishness, wrapped up in its tentacles, and suffocating on its emotional highs and lows.  And due to his influence, we have become a self-centered people.  Selfishness also breeds selfishness.  If you are around people that are just focused on themselves, you will then feel the need to “protect yourself.”      It's a vicious cycle that, without intervention, leads to isolated, frustrated, individuals. It's a lonely place. It's a place that I have visited, too often. The world of the selfish is small, their emotions are small, their entire focus and thought process are so lo...