Parable of the Runaway

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    Another inspiration/indigestion while Kopper took me for a walk.

    He seems to want to walk with me forever.

    I keep looking forward to when it's over.

    That's gotta mean something.

    Be that as it may be, the parable of the runaway follows...

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    I never really liked him...until now.

    It was a forced relationship. 

    He was a rich member of the church, inheriting all of his wealth from his entrepreneurial daddy and feeling entitled to more than others in every way so reminiscent of Jesus' verdict, and I was a boy wonder ably gifted for pulpiteering wizardry without the necessary emotional or spiritual prerequisites.

    We were the same age.

    Adulteries come in all emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical forms and I felt entitled to them more than others in every way because I was ably gifted for pulpiteering wizardry without the necessary emotional or spiritual prerequisites.

    Proving Balaam's wasn't the only one who God could use to tell the truth, he confronted me, "You will never come close to what He has for you until you face your demons."

    Or as a street preacher once explained, "You can't fix what you won't face."

    When problems or tight spots or annoyances or miscues or irregulars or irascibles or irreconcilables or sins closed in, I ran away to the next church that always called because I was ably gifted for pulpiteering wizardry without the necessary emotional or spiritual prerequisites.

    Not as familiar with the Psalmist or garden story or anything Biblical as I pretended to be, spending most of my "educational" time reading books about the book, I thought I could run away from whomever or whatever or wherever or whyever whenever that feeling of closing in began to incarnate.

    Strange how the past is reincarnated unless the counsel of the rich contemporary and street preacher is absorbed into the deepest recesses of mind and spirit.

    It's impossible to outrun what's deeply embedded.

    It must be faced before what He has for you can be experienced/expressed.

    Repetition or restoration is a choice no matter what hyper-predestinarians pretend.

    Yes, we are predestined in every way according to the Bible.

    Yes, we have volition in every way according to the Bible.

    It's better to spend time in what/whom is within your reach. 

    That happens over time for many.

    That happens on Damascus Road for others.

    That happens...in different ways for different people who truly want it/Him to happen to them...or not.

    It's a choice.

    Decision.

    There's not a word that's strong enough to...

    I never really liked him...until now.

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    He seems to want to walk with me forever.

    When I stopped wanting it to be over, the relationship began to...

    It doesn't start until you stop running away.

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Blessings and Love!