It Feels So Good to Gripe!

It feels so good to complain! To have someone empathize with you...for someone who understands the pain and frustration...for someone who can nod in agreement and look amazed at the suffering you've endured. I'm reading Paul's letter to the Colossians and I am noticing how frequently, and passionately, Paul complains. But, in contrast to my complaining, Paul manages to make his griping holy and victorious. How does Paul get away with it? He almost brags about his suffering, but the way he does it, griping glorifies God and encourages his readers.

THREE KEY IDEAS:

  • PAUL SUFFERED (and griped about it!)
  • PAUL REJOICED (continually!)
  • WE CAN REJOICE (believe it!)
    • "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church..." (Colossians 1:24) The important difference between Paul and me is that Paul connected his suffering with his service to Jesus. My natural focus tends to be on what I'm feeling, rather than why I'm doing what I'm doing. I imagine Paul saying to me, "Turn your gripes can into glorifying!" Read more...

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Apple Seeds and Cyanide

    Image
    Apple Seeds and Cyanide I offhandedly posted a comment that I eat apples...cores, seeds, and all . I chew on the stem until it tastes and feels like a used toothpick, and then I spit it out. Several responses to my post have given me cause to examine closely my preferred method of eating apples. I'd heard that apple seeds contain a small amount of cyanide , but I'd also heard that it's harmless unless one were to eat an immoderate amount of apples, much more than a person could stomach in one sitting. But I didn't really have any research to support either position: Are apple seeds poisonous or healthy? . So I went searching. One hour's worth of time spent searching the internet has given some interesting, semi-scientific, good-enough-for-me evidence that eating an apple's worth of seeds a day, or even three or four apple's worth, is not harmful . At worst, it may introduce a tiny amount of cyanide into my body, at a level which my body can eas
    Read more

    How to Connect Trailer Wiring: 2003 Chevy S-10 Pickup

    Image
    How to Connect Trailer Wiring: 2003 Chevy S-10 Pickup The Plan: Borrow a tent-trailer and go camping The Problem: No hitch and no electrical connection on my pickup The Process: Install a hitch and an electrical connection compatible with the trailer Step One - the easy part: install a hitch. The 2003 Chevy S-10 bumper is completely adequate for hauling a tent-trailer, at least the one I borrowed from a friend. The bumper is labeled with two weight limits: 3500 LBS TRAILER LOAD MAXIMUM 350 LBS TONGUE LOAD MAXIMUM The single-axle Coleman tent-trailer does not exceed these limits. The trailer required a two-inch diameter ball hitch. My bumper was pre-drilled with a half-inch hole. I purchased a ball hitch rated at 3500 pounds, with a half-inch threaded stem. It fit perfectly in the bumper. Step Two - the harder part: install wiring harness. The Chevy S-10 pickup uses a snap connector to join the rear lights wiring with the electrical system. This location is
    Read more

    Google Chrome Browser: Remember Window Size & Position

    Image
    Google Chrome Browser: Remember Window Size & Position Google Chrome would not remember the window size and position , running under Windows 7. Searching the internet offered many solutions, some weird, some confusing, none effective. Not even Google's own help site offered a solution. It must be me. I cannot believe that Google would be so unhelpful. Taking a portion of one user's advice, and adding a bit extra from another user's suggestion, brought relief. Now I can resize my browser window and place it anywhere on the desktop, close the browser, restart, and it reappears where I last had it, correctly sized. Here's what I did: 1. My version of Chrome: 22.0.1229.79 m 2. Click on the settings icon ( a button with three, short horizontal bars, or perhaps yours is an image of a wrench. 3. Click on About Google Chrome (this is where you can also find what version of Chrome you're running) 4. Chrome will quickly check to see if your version i
    Read more