Thoughts from my bed

[Jeremy Gable]

***Again, the following email was written a little over a week ago while I still had malaria.***

 

7:18 pm, Friday 27th of January, 2006

 

Laying here with malaria and nothing to do but think, God has led me to some startling and wonderful realizations.  I was contemplating the End Times when I decided to set my watch alarm for the next time I needed to take my medications.  As I was setting the alarm, I happened to notice the setting for a second time zone.  This of course reminded me of the time difference between Kemantian and my home in the states.  As my thoughts wandered down that road, one thought led to another and within a span of 5-10 minutes, my thoughts had wandered from contemplating the glories of Heaven to a sci-fi adventure show I used to watch, and from there to the fantasy adventures I used to roleplay in Dungeons and Dragons (which I gave up years ago)!  As my mind touched on this topic, I suddenly noticed that the image of the glories of God in my mind began to fade and look dull in comparison to the imaginary glories that a D&D character experiences within the context of the game.  Immediately I thought, "Wait a minute!  What am I doing?!  How can I begin to compare D&D with the glories of Heaven?!"  When I began backtracking the thought processes that led me there, I was amazed at how such an insignificant thing as setting the alarm on my watch could lead me so far from God.  I also realized how powerful a gift God gave me in being able to see relationships between vastly disparate things and concepts.  As I pondered this, I found that I have been using this wonderful gift my entire life, but have been letting it run rampant—a wild and untamed force that flows unchecked wherever it pleases, like an enormous reservoir filled to the top and then having all its sides suddenly removed.  If the only thing surrounding the water is a vast, open plain, then the effect of that massive potential amounts to nothing more than a big, wet SPLAT that spreads itself so thin it dries up within a few months (at the longest).  Whereas if the water is channeled and focused, it carves a massive trench that will last for ages!  By letting the gifts God has given us go unfocused and channeled, the totality of all that potential is nothing more more than a momentary splat.  What's more, if we give those gifts back to God, He will bless them and refill the reservoir as fast as it drains!

What gifts has God given you that you have allowed to flow channeled and unfocused?  What gifts has He given you that you aren't giving back to Him?  Do you have a good paying job?  In what ways can you give that gift back to God?  How about a new car, or a good education? a family? a computer? your health? sufficient food? your time? a good spouse and a good marriage?  What other ways has God blessed you?  Which of those blessings have you not given back to God?  If an channeled, unfocused gift accomplishes nothing more than a momentary splat, and a channeled and focused gift can carve a trench that will remain for ages, think of what God can do if we channel the gift and then give it back to Him and let Him focus and refill it  It will carve a trench that will last for eternity!

 

 

With love in Christ,

Jeremy Gable