Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will ...

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. (Song of Solomon 4:7, NSV) Sometimes I struggle with feeling truly feminine.  I do not have a lot of the things in my life that many would associate with womanhood.  I am not a mother.  I am not a wife.  I am not dating anyone.  I would like to have all of those things but it just hasn’t happened for me yet.  On the flipside, I have some characteristics that are typically associated with being male.  I am good with technology, I love video games, I work in Information Technology, I do chores on my own that my married friends leave to their husbands. It used to be painful for me when others referred to me as a ‘techie.’  One day God redeemed that for me when someone I respect (and who I would view as being a model of femininity) said to me, “I think it is very cool that you are a woman who is a techie.”  Since then God has used several instances to show me how he is using my fe...