Reading List: The Red Ember in the White Ash

A couple of months ago, I made another trip to the library and brought back The Red Ember in the White Ash, by Lloyd John Ogilvie. At the time, I did not know what I would find inside, and so I was pleasantly surprised. It also speaks to the rebuilding, though not specifically to disaster recovery like Soul Storm. It is still an interesting reading, covering Paul's letters to Timothy. These letters carry applications to life today. You can find out more about The Red Ember in the White Ash here.

The author puts forth these letters and other Bible verses as a way we can re-ignite our passion for God. I was particularly interested in the character analysis put forth in Chapter Six: Quelling the Fire-Quenchers, where the author quotes from 2 Timothy 3: 1-5 (NKJV). Ogilvie expands this scripture into a powerful tool for self-analysis that encourages (and challenges) the reader to look inward critically. I had to take this chapter much slower than the rest of the book. I could probably gain more from it if I wrote down what I find as I follow along.

This kind of self-examination isn't easy to do, but I've seen where I have problems. In the same way that people say "If you've seen one cockroach in your house, there are probably more that you did not see" this kind of self-examination can help us turn over more stones than we may be comfortable doing.

But these problem areas impede our ability to serve Jesus. The inverted life isn't about coming to Jesus and forcing him to accept me as I am, it is about coming to Jesus and accepting the changes he wants to make in me. That means not only praying for meaningful change to come but also working toward that change in my relationship with him.

Swindle

I was reading the Volunteer Blog at the Hilltop Rescue web site last night, and noticed that somebody's been adding comment spam to the postings.

I've also reflected on what happens when people deliberately hurt other people. Doesn't anybody ever wonder what happens when they create a victim? I've got a theory, and it shows an even uglier side to the already "as-ugly-as-sin" world that sin has created here on Earth.

Person A has the ability to help Person B.
Person C deliberately harms Person A.
The damage to Person A prevents Person A from helping Person B.
Person B has been denied help because of actions of Person C.

My conclusion? Person C has just harmed TWO PEOPLE.

Here's what I wonder: Would God hold Person C accountable for the indirect harm that has been caused to Person B by preventing Person A from helping Person B?

I leave you with this quote:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27)