WHO IS THIS "SORRY" FELLOW?

"Sorry....sorry....I just get carried away........" John Cleese as Sir Lance-a-Lot

Who's sorry now?

I am; because in retrospect I have written so many non-sequitors lately that are highly or maybe absolutely prone to misinterpretation. Also because "confidence in the flesh" is so easily attained in life, let alone in blogging. It has been my goal to get beyond legalism; and not only that, but to try to communicate (if necessary using words) something beyond religion, and politics, and even personal opinion.

Obviously, only partial, and stumbling at that, success is possible for me, or anyone else. "The ground is level at the foot of the cross"--the very point that so infuriated Nietschke. So, as at the beginning, I ask your indulgence and patience, recalling that the Amazing thing about Grace is its ability to turn sour grapes into sweet wine.

The example pastor used last night was of OT Joseph, the technicolor dreamcoat guy. In the discussion he pointed out that Joe started out as a bit of a cad--and certainly a boaster. He managed to alienate each and every one of his brothers by telling them his dreams which turned out to be prophetic but sounded obviously rude and crude, as they would also to clueless us. "Don't tell everyone your dreams." The brothers, in part rightly, deemed this the height of arrogance, the capstone of a fatal career. Murder was planned and almost carried out except for the guilty conscience of one bro, who convinced the others to make a fast buck by selling Joe down into Egypt.

Yet, had he not infuriated them, Joey would not have ended up in Egypt at all--would have learned nothing--and would not have even ended up loving/saving his brothers in the end. The question is, how much of the initial offence was due to confidence in the flesh, and being the favorite of his father Jake, when such honor was supposed to be given to the eldest? And how much was planned by God?

I do not compare myself to Joe, though, who in some people's opinion was a "type" or foreshadowing of the Messiah.I have had no dreams of which to boast, nor has any great power or privilege been granted to me, "for such a time as this." So I must tread even more cautiously than Joe did. It is likely that even with 60 years of confidence in the flesh, I have still not learned my lessons. Although human "wise-dumb" is often blatantly obvious, it is very subtle when the practitioner practices it, because we cannot understand ourselves, of physical necessity and owing to our inherently selfish subjective views. We need other people to reign in our madness and our zeal.

As Sir Lancelot exits in "my own particular idiom" from the canage he has caused, he swings over the bloodied crowd on a rope. Which leaves him dangling nowhere; saying"..uh...does somebody want to give me a push?" Over a cliff perhaps?

Our dependencies are soon revealed: "I dare not trust the sweetest frame." Somebody wanna give me a push?