SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: "Quo-TEA-ble"

To answer a reader's question......Yes, I've read the last in the Richard Paul Evans "Walk" series.  That series was my first Sunday book review for this year's blog. It wasn't so much a review as a "thanks" for recommendations from reading friends. You can click on the blue link to see a list of the titles in the series.

The final installment was out this month, Walking on Water. (5/6/14) and this week was #3 on the NY Times best sellers. Many readers had to wait 5 years as each installment was published. I, on the other hand, didn't find our about this series until this year.

As not to introduce any spoilers, I'll just say that the protagonist, Alan, is on a walk from Seattle to Key West, in hopes of finding healing. He finds lots else along the way. When he was in our "neck of the woods," St. Louis and south through Memphis and Mississippi and on to Florida, it was interesting to read the "author's take" on our area. As this final book begins, Alan is about to enter Florida. From there it seemed to be a lot of where he slept and what he ate info. But, all in all, the series was a "clean" read---much more than a travelogue, as the following quotes will show. Evans is very "quo-TEA-ble

"It is better to be loved by one person who knows your soul than millions who don't even know your phone number." The Walk

“The assumption of time is one of humanity's greatest follies. We tell ourselves that there's always tomorrow, when we can no more predict tomorrow than we can the weather. Procrastination is the thief of dreams.” The Walk

“Some people in this world have stopped looking for beauty, then wonder why their lives are so ugly. Don't be like them. The ability to appreciate beauty is of God. Especially in one another. Look for beauty in everyone you meet, and you'll find it. Everyone carries divinity within them. And everyone we meet has something to impart.” Miles to Go

....grace is more than our destination, it is the journey itself, manifested in each breath and with each step we take. Road to Grace

“As we walk our individual life journeys, we pick up resentments and hurts, which attach themselves to our souls like burrs clinging to a hiker's socks. These stowaways may seem insignificant at first, but, over time, if we do not occasionally stop and shake them free, the accumulation becomes a burden to our souls.” Road to Grace

 “What a culture we live in, we are swimming in an ocean of information, and drowning in ignorance.” A  Step of Faith

"It's a shame that hearts don't come with manual overrides." Walking on Water

The series final, Walking on Water,  opens with a quote from T.S. Eliot.........

We shall not cease from exploration, 

And the end of all our exploring,

 Will be to arrive at where we started

And know the place for the first time.

......and ends with a letter from the author, Richard Paul Evans

"All journeys must come to an end. After five years of resaeaching and writing the walk, the emotions that crossed my heart when I reached Key West were a powerful mix of accomplishment, finality and nostalgia. I was grateful that I had made the choices that led me to the end of this road ---literally as well as figuratively."

Dispari-TEA

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good (Genesis 50:20, NIV)

Often our life journeys don't take us where we think we're headed. That was certainly true in Joseph's life when  his own brothers threw him in a wilderness pit and later sold him.
In our own lives we can be shocked and think, "This is not the movie I bought my ticket for." Terminal illness. An unfaithful spouse. Chronic pain. An addicted child. What good can come from this? Where are God's blessings for my life?

If one has lived a moral life of serving God and others, he/she can mistakenly assume that such behavior will protect him/her from calamity.

Tragedy seems inconsistent with godliness. Seemingly, there's such disparity.

It's easy to take verses of scripture that seem to honor wise living and overlook the parts that follow.
"....in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation."(John 16:33, NIV) Christians are not exempt from tribulation----those hard parts of life. We just have to trust God and keep reading....and understand that when God says "Take heart....." or "Wait,"He is there in the midst with us.

"There's a difference between reading a map and traveling the road---as distinct as the disparity between reading a menu and and eating a meal." (Miles to Go, p.5)

In a life well-lived, one can still be served some inconsistencies of adversity and affliction----But God....is in those intersections of dispari-TEAs.

Life is a continuous journey. Continue to live it well. And......If along the way, life serves you a big cuppa dispari-TEA, just sweeten it with God's grace.

Then...leave that cuppa in His hands.