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I used to fight with Christians, even though my best friend at each point in time has always been one. When I was in my mid-twenties I had the nerve to ask my friend over dinner, "How can you believe the Bible, a book that was written some 2000 years ago, could possibly have any relevance to my life today?" I compared the Bible to a user manual for a VCR... every new generation of product comes with a new manual. I mean, I should know. I'm a technical writer.
My friend replied without even flinching: "Because God wrote the Bible, and He knows that deep down inside people have never really changed." While that didn't change my mind, through countless other encounters I found I was on the process of becoming a Christian. The key is that "becoming" is not an event; we can pinpoint the day we asked the Lord into our heart, but that's not the defining moment of our lives in Christ.
Over the past 10 years I've come to learn that even before asking the Lord into my heart, I've been on the process of growing in Christ. There are times when I don't "feel" Christian. But at the heart of it I find that God, always present and always loving, manages to work all things out for the good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
I've been called. And if you look deep into your heart, you'll find that so are you.
And the friend who managed to shut down my questions that night over dinner, that very smart friend who always trusts God to provide the answers we need for life, became my very best friend on earth.
She is my love, my muse, my wife.
May you constantly look upwards to find the LORD who made heaven and earth, and also inwards, to the home He wants to make inside your heart.
Living the love of Christ, one day at a time,
Tony
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