A Chapel curiosity ?

[Boaz]

So many come to the Chapel to read the posts . Being a mod on other forums I always look to see who is reading....just habit . Regular members who comment or add to the topic , many viewers that are not even members . Almost all self professed atheists come here come to look , regular members that never comment ....they are a curiosity to me . Why do they care ? It's kind of odd to me the ...morbid curiosity , nothing else to do . too intimidated to post , seeking , ....strange to me that so many seemingly non Christians come here .

[rancher1913]

maybe they are not as non christian as you think. I read (and pry on) far more posts than I comment on, if its just another "attaboy" type post I tend to not post.

[Boaz]

maybe they are not as non christian as you think. I read (and pry on) far more posts than I comment on, if its just another "attaboy" type post I tend to not post.

Believe me I'm not provoking or picking on you . I know you believe , have read your comments and dealt with you personally . Always enjoy your posts .

For my own understanding please expound a bit . I only have my own feelings or thoughts to gage the situation .

I probably have to explain my own reactions or responses to the chapel . When I hear or see GOD's name called or mentioned I feel compelled to comment , encourage or share . Perhaps this is a personal failing , GOD knows I have many . Are the prayers here too repetitive , boring , seemingly put on or just not inspiring ? Do the praises wear thin through redundancy ..just regular same old stuff ? I guess my question is ...could the Chapel be improved ? Could it be made to appeal to more on a regular basis ?

[Omega]

I use the "Unread Posts" and will open any post that strikes my fancy, rarely look at where it's actually posted. As for posting, again, only post if it's something that interests me.

As for the OP, here I thought you found something buried under the floor in a chapel, the holy grail, an interred templar, a previously unknown copy of the bible...kinda disappointed.

[Boaz]

No , but check in whenever you want .

[rancher1913]

no offense taken boaz just saying that not everybody that is not vocal does not get some comfort out of the chapel. I have encountered a lot of so called Christians that preach and preach but do not live it and a lot of times the preaching is a front to take advantage of someone (not directed at anybody on this site just an observation from my life) being out in the boondocks I can enjoy god laying on a hay bale looking up at the stars and don't need to go to a brick and mortar building.

[Boaz]

Well heck I do promote going to church . Lot more to be said than what I will but GOD tells us to get together and support one another . I don't think a person has to attend church to be saved .

[Boaz]

I don't believe anyone has not read or received the offer of salvation in the time we live in , personal choice ....just choice .

[johnson1942]

rancher 1913 said it all and is right. its hard to come forward to comment here as one never knows how it is going to be taken or who is going to hijack it and run somepalce that it shouldnt go. i could get into some really deep discussions here but mostly and sorry to say this is a feel good place and not all that deep. im just stating fact and not trying to make anybody mad when i say this. its not just here it is every where. my friend and neighbor who is a fine gentle christian has a weekly bible study once a week at his rural house. i wont go because some one is always trying to hijack it toward politics or some strange theology. i wont waste my time being in the presence of guys who have a point other than building up the body of believers and expanding the kingdom of God and His Son. their is a verse in the bible though that every one here should know. that is when the word, ( Gods word) goes out, it never ever come back void. so when a bible verse is posted here with out the posters comment of there own opinion on it it cannot come back void. it does something somewhere. thats Gods promise. the bible can stand on its own.

[Preacher Jim]

In chapel we want all to feel free to express your feelings. This is a place to find support and you are important. You never grow or learn till you ask questions. Just know we care about everyone who reads or posts here.

[Pine Baron]

Well Johnson, you hooked me. What is your deep discussion? This sub forum is only as deep as you want it to go.

[shredder]

Hello Boaz. I stick my head in here a fair bit because many the topics intrigue me. Although I am not a member of any organized religion, that does not mean that I am not spiritual or that I do not believe in God. I was raised in a church-going house and much of what I experienced really turned me off. Here I can explore in safety and not be criticized, or pointed to the "only way". I really like your posts here and will continue to eavesdrop. I come here respectfully with mental cap in hand. Some day I may even join in and make a real post.

[LAH]

I run in a quite large circle doing the things I do. Outside of Church I find seekers. Looking for things spiritual. While I'm convinced & my mind made up, I'm not a pushy fellow & will entertain non believers or maybe the non Churched is a better word. I never try to run people off.

[ShooterAZ]

I don't understand why it matters who comes here and posts or not. As said before, just because they don't post doesn't mean they aren't a believer.

[Half Dog]

I look for comfort from people who share/experienced issues that I am experiencing. You might, someday, be the one who makes it click.

[dverna]

It is complex for me. Moving from being an atheist to questioning. It can be a circuitous path.

Organized religion does not do it for me.

Frankly, at least two regulars here profess to be Christian and have shown too many times they are not. Yet they are seemingly held in high esteem by some. It provides an interesting dynamic...wonder if some are blind...kind...have poor judgment.....???

Most are good people and that keeps me coming back. I keep myself open to learning and a greater understanding.

I tend to agree with most of what Johnson and rancher posted.

Don Verna

[Blackwater]

I have to second Ranher's post. A lot of Christians today take their faith as casually as a cup of coffee in the morning. We've been so richly blessed here, that we've never really had to sacrifice in this land for our faith, so ... it's pretty natural to take it as a matter of course, and really not dwell on it much. This is always a mistake, of course, but a very "human" one. Our essential nature is to do that, and only address what is threatening, or appears like it might threaten us. So in good times, it's pretty typical of most folks to "take it easy" and then, we wind up taking it for granted. And religion taken for granted always leads to a decline in the people who do this. Our lives today are filled with so many "baits" for us to take, like a fish, that it's a wonder any of us escape falling prey to them. Most of us have nibbled at them, and either "got away" or decided not to take the bait in full.

It's SO easy to stray, and to sit and figure we're "close enough to Heaven," and so difficult to battle the principalities that tempt us so. But there've always been those who've done it, and those who've fallen by the wayside due to lack of dilligence. Most Christians, I think, don't really "see" the full benefit of our faith until they get older, or are challenged seriously somehow, like by some infirmity. Until they face their mortality, and the critical decisions involved in it, it's really hard if not impossible for them to really take their faith as seriously as it truly is. Something along our paths has to grab us by the shoulder and say "Hey, buddy! What are you doing, REALLY?"

In times of "peace," it's easy to figure we don't NEED to "put on the full armor of God." And so, many if not most, just don't. It's like the parable of the bridesmaids and the lamps and oil. Some were prepared, and had the oil, when the oil came. Some had decided to postpone getting their oil, and were left out. It's just how we "humans" tend to "look at" and process and deal with things. Satan has become VERY adept at using our natural tendencies to keep us from the full benefit of our faith, and I wonder if this might not be his worst endeavor here?

We're just pawns in a battle of principalities, but we are the type of pawns that have a right to chose which King we'll serve, the black one or the white one. And the black one continually tries to get us to focus on anything and everything BUT our commitment. "Look over there!" he says, and we, in our infirmities, look, and thus, take our focus away from where it ought to rightfully be if we're to benefit from our faith as fully as we can.

Many are just looking for real answers and understanding. Many have read the Bible multiple times, and know many verses by heart. But that's not the same as having their MEANING fully engraved in our hearts, and constantly on our minds.

So I for one applaud all who are looking for answers. Even the atheists and agnostics MAY find something that finally touches their heart, and lifts the scales from their eyes enough to see things that they've been doubting for so very long now. I think it's a very GOOD thing that many read and don't post. Most probably don't believe they have anything to add, but I've learned at least as much from those kinds of folks, and their questions, as I have from all the sermons I've heard. I continue to believe that our knowledge of God can only go just so deep, being limited by our mortal limitations in understanding the supernatural as fully as we all want to, I think. But if even my little Down's syndrome cousin can glean enough to believe, and obviously be Heaven bound, then everybody here can obviously make it there too. One of the wonders of our faith is that if we simply "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," we'll be saved. The rest, provided the commitment we make at our epiphany is real, is mostly just edification, and learning how to put it to use. None of us cast a perfect bullet with our first casting effort. Nor did we hit the bullseye the first time we shot a gun. We had to learn to USE them, in order to get good results and satisfaction.

Coming to faith really isn't much different, though it certainly has MUCH broader and deeper implications for us. We have to learn to walk before we can run, and interest here is a fine way to learn that. We discuss things here that I don't find discussed anywhere else but in churches, and many churches have become so PC that even there, it's often hard to find the "meat" and many seem to "get along" on just the "milk." But anyone with real faith, I think, DESIRES to know more, and understand more fully, and that seems to come only when we discuss matters among ourselves, and do it in complete trust of each other, and with a real goal of understanding what we presently only see the shadows of. How could it really be any different?

So I for one find solace in the fact that many view without posting. I've had many, many folks in my time, make some little observation or say something off the cuff, that - "BING!" - caused me to have some little epophany, and see something in a more complete light than I'd ever seen before. A lifetime of these "little things" adds up to something significant. I once thought I knew all I really needed to. Now .... I realize how foolish and wrong I was back then! And I think that's not untypical of many of us. God leads us so much more than we think He does or seem often willing to credit Him for. I sometimes smile a very sheepish grin when I think of how I once regarded my faith. It wasn't "not real." It was just SO ill and poorly informed! But if we keep seeking, honestly and earnestly, God will lead us to where we need to be so that we CAN understand more fully. It probably won't be on the time schedule we want, but it DOES come, If we're just simply faithful and vigilant over time. I can't remember a time when I didn't at least tend to believe. But I've had many times along my way when I thought God had abandoned me. But he never did, but instead, had carried me, just like that old story about the guy walking along the beach beside Jesus, and looking back, noted only one set of tracks behind them. He, too, asked "Why did you abandon me Lord?" But Jesus, in his Love and Mercy, just smiled at him and said, "My son, I never abandoned you. Those are the places where I carried you."

People today thirst for the meat of our faith, and often, get little but the milk. This thirst could well develop into the greatest revival this world has ever seen. That thirst just needs to be fed, and fed more often and fed well, and on meat instead of milk. PC has put a big crimp in so many churches and sermons now, lest someone cause a ruckus and churches split, and not be able to financially support themselves any more. Most preachers are afraid of this, and not wholly unrighteously so. It's the old "rock and a hard place" situation, with no clear 'good' way out. I feel for preachers today! They are facing a body of members that are not unlike the group we have here on this site, that seem to wear their feelings on their sleeves, and be too easily provoked. It's a LOT bigger balancing act than a trained seal balancing a ball on its nose! They have my utmost respect when they find a way to fee their "sheep" real meat! But mostly, I think the real meat of it has to be found in reading and seriously searching for the answers, and in discussing it one with another. I'm one who likes, and actually seeks out those who think and see differently than I do. I don't think any of us "see" the whole thing, and so, I just want to know "more," and I've become so set in my thinking, that only someone else can really help me see things differently, and hopefully more completely than I do now or ever have in the past.

Growth in knowledge and doing better work, is and will always be a great challenge. For mortals to try to understand the supernatural will always be a great challenge. But we CAN understand ENOUGH to get to Heaven, and after we get that settled, THEN we have a thirst that only further edification, more epiphanies, and more study can ever lead us to greater understanding, as we so increasingly desire along our own personal walks in life. All I can do is thank God for all of that. He knew SO much more than we do about how to set up this world, and make it SO much better, fuller and composed of so much more grandeur and wonders than any of us EVER could, even if given His power!

Perspective is probably the biggest barrier to furthering our understanding, and we get a lot of really good but different ones here. How could those who thirst NOT keep coming back? None of us has it all down pat, but I have gleaned SO much from so many here, that it continually humbles me, and quite deservedly so. Sometimes, some little choice of word, or some flippant comment, really hits home. It's really all about listening to each other. I suspect many of the readers will become posters in time. That's just how our Faith grows. None of us got here overnight! We ALL had so very much to learn when we started out, and really started trying to understand something so much bigger than we are.

So I say "Let 'em read," and hopefully, post something whenever they feel the spirit move them to do so. Ain't a thing wrong with coming here to read! Welcome, friends! Thanks for coming, and when you feel moved to do so, introduce yourself, and let us know what you think. Everybody matters here. Really.

[shoot-n-lead]

I think that the fact that the Chapel is here...and allowed to be here...is sufficient to make a difference in lives...as posted earlier, GOD'S word...regardless of where it is posted, will not return void.

Be grateful for this opportunity and realize that an internet gun forum is probably not going to be the most spiritually open place.

[NoAngel]

You can find meaning in just about anything if you need/want it.
You can find no meaning in just about anything, just the same.

I think the traffic in this forum is probably 75% intentional 25% chance.

Half the time, I never look at what forum a subject is in. If it looks interesting, I click on it.

[Preacher Jim]

QUOTE=dverna;3926653]It is complex for me. Moving from being an atheist to questioning. It can be a circuitous path.

Organized religion does not do it for me.

Frankly, at least two regulars here profess to be Christian and have shown too many times they are not. Yet they are seemingly held in high esteem by some. It provides an interesting dynamic...wonder if some are blind...kind...have poor judgment.....???

Most are good people and that keeps me coming back. I keep myself open to learning and a greater understanding.

I tend to agree with most of what Johnson and rancher posted.

Don Verna[/QUOTE]

[NoAngel]

I dunno if this has anything to do with the direction of this thread but after reading it, it's just the thought it stirs in my mind.

There are VERY few real atheists. Ohh, many proclaim they are but they are not. They love to come into places like this and stir trouble.

Just this once, let's replace God with the easter bunny. No one on the this forum believes in his heart the easter bunny exists. When a child comes along that does, we don't berate them, insult them or pummel them with the reasons he cannot exist. It's not necessary.
A true atheist feels this way. They will not engage in long winded, heated, often violent arguments about what they don't believe. The idea is trivial, comical even and simply beneath them. A true atheist would no more waste his time debating god than you would the easter bunny. One and the same to them.

The ones that deny any deity with zeal and, more often than not, anger, are quite simply afraid. Ohh yeah, tell them that and get an earful, but it's true. If it weren't, they wouldn't get so upset by the idea.
Why do they act that way? What do many men do in the face of something terrifying? They get defensive and violent. It's a natural response to something that feels threatening. All men will do the same on one level or another. For any of us, if our lives or our families were to be threatened, things would get nasty and probably pretty loud. LOL!

The fear they feel should be very understandable to Christian folk. Especially of the Southern variety that have heard the hellfire and brimstone sermons on fear of the lord.
People are afraid of what they don't understand. Self proclaimed atheists that spend SO MUCH time trying to disprove what they say they don't believe are afraid and scared to death they may be held accountable to someone or some thing that makes all they have struggled through life to achieve look pathetic and insignificant.

It's sad really.

[slim1836]

I come here often, to read and learn. I am a believer, however, there are so many more here that know more about religion than I ever learned. My best friend knows the Bible very well and we (I listen) discuss it a lot.

I am not a church goer but probably should, my wife goes occasionally though. I just never found a church I felt comfortable around enough to join.

Feel free to spread the word, I enjoy reading.

Slim

[1johnlb]

I come here often, to read and learn. I am a believer, however, there are so many more here that know more about religion than I ever learned. My best friend knows the Bible very well and we (I listen) discuss it a lot.

I am not a church goer but probably should, my wife goes occasionally though. I just never found a church I felt comfortable around enough to join.

Feel free to spread the word, I enjoy reading.

Slim

For me going to church was kind of like being ready for for children. We finally figured we would never be ready by our standards and probably wouldn't have a child now if we would have waited until we were ready.

And when I got saved, I had no desire to attend church on a regular bases. I just wasn't comfortable, for many reasons, but knew I needed to be there. So I prayed about it and asked for direction. I began going to different churches and actually found 1 or 2 that made me feel like I was home, 1 of which I absolutely love, a pentecostal holiness. But God had something else in mind, a nondenominational church, which was filled with people from every denomination. Even though at times I felt like a turd in a punch bowl, this is where He meet me, uses me and took me to higher levels of learning than I ever would have went anywhere else.

There's even been times when I had to get rid of things in my life so to be there, like work. There was a time that all week I worked and had nothing left on Sundays and was convicted by the Spirit and prayed about and He brought me to the revalation about the Sabbath day. Saturday the 7th day is a day of rest and Sunday is the 1st day of the week which is the day of light. In Church, on the 1st day of the week we are fed light. So I had some changes to make.

As said many times, Spiritual growth is a process, but if we stop growing as most things do or get out of the light, we die, at least spiritually.

[shredder]

Though I see God all around me, and when I look up at night I just know that there are greater things out there than me, I cannot find myself inside any church. I feel the most power when I am alone in the wilderness able to see the magnificence of our world and appreciate the sounds of nature without the disruption of man. I acknowledge that I have spent a good deal of my earth time in the wilds of northern Canada doing things no rational man of this time would do. I feel sometimes as if I was born in the wrong century, that I belong in a time long forgotten.

I have done things like: spending 8 weeks at a time in a remote fly out camp doing Geo-physical survey work "swinging an axe on snowshoes" for a living. All winter long with only a day or so at home between jobs for 8 years. Or, guiding bear hunters that have never fished an un touched river or hunted bears that have never seen a human, in remote fly out camps. Better yet are the days that I had to myself, hunting or fishing in areas that have likely never seen a human footprint. When I experienced these things I always had the great spirit in mind.

[Jr.]

I know that I have asked for prayers here and they have worked.

I have prayed here and hope that it has helped.

I read here much more often than I post. Mostly because it is either an uplifting post by someone posting a short sermon or someone looking for prayers.
I sometimes feel compelled to post my prayer or my gratitude to the poster but often carry a prayer in my heart for those asking for it.

I for one couldn't be happier to have this sub section of the forum.

As stated before. This is the closest thing that I have to a church. To hear praises and scripture, testimony and need, directly from other people who are just people like me has helped me far beyond what I can explain. I love this place, and I love the people on it, even if they only read. God knows their heart and this is transposed into events in my life and the lives of many others.

[Pine Baron]

Thank you Jr. You pretty much said it for me too. We are all blessed to be here and having found each other, are strengthened in our Faith. Praise God indeed.

[tinhorn97062]

Well, I'm a fairly regular lurker for various reasons. Many of the reasons are to find out where folks are at in life, and to pray along those lines. Sometimes it's reading people's thoughts and revelations- many of which greatly bless and encourage me.

[Blackwater]

You know, in reading some of these posts by those who don't now attend any church regularly, I'm truly moved by many of the sentiments. I think I'm moved because PC has infiltrated so many churches, and those in the body of those churches, that it's really neutered them substantially from what I believe Church was always intended to be. Shredder's story reminds me so much of what I've always thought those old solitary and semi-solitary mountain men of old saw and felt and thought when they were drawn to the lofty peaks. The only real reason a man climbs mountains is because he's looking for something at their tops - something beyond what he already knows down in the lowlands. I think they're seeking God, mostly, along with maybe a better understanding of themselves, and all around them. I think God would be very pleased with that, because no man does a thing like that without a real inner compulsion to know, and know for real and certain. No higher aspiration can fall to a man, I think.

Then, I always think back to the wonderful advice and counsel our Savior left for us all, and how He insisted that we are to gather ourselves together in His honor. My church burned a few years back, now, and my grandfather helped build that then very old structure. I was incensed at the young druggie who'd burglarized it, looking for anything to pawn for drug money. However, one of our eldest members, now 86 and in pretty good helth, was offered one of the bricks from the rubble, as a remembrance of the old "church." He responded "Why would I want a brick? I've already got plenty of them out under the shed." Tim, our preacher, said he thought he might appreciate a remembrance of the old church. Curtis just matter of factly said, "That building's not the church. The church is the people inside that building, and they can meet in any old place, and still be a church. The building is just a convenience to us." I'll never forget what Curtis said. It was the truth.

No man is quite big enough, or knowledgeable enough, or wise enough, to find all the answers by himself. As the old saying goes, "two heads are better than one, even if one is a goat's head." And there's some real wisdom in that old saying. I know in my time, I've learned SO many things from others, here and through all the years, that I'd probably have glossed right over without hearing from others, that I've finally been humbled enough to "hear" a lot of things I was legitimately unable to "hear" for many years. I was too wrapped up in my own concepts, and too determined to do it all MY way, and thus, missed so very much that really wasn't necessary for me to have missed, had it only not been for my attitude and precepts that came from ME instead of the Lord.

God didn't make this world to be a mystery to us that is insoluable. He MEANT for us to learn and know about it, but wanted us to have to EARN it so we'd appreciate it. We don't often appreciate what we're given. Witness folks who win the lottery. Most, in a few years, are right back where they started because they took the money for granted, and didn't really appreciate the opportunities they had with it. But we're really all a lot like that, just in differing ways, or at least different slants on it. So it's indisputable, really, that we DO gain by gathering ourselves together.

The problem usually comes when we expect our churches to be "perfect" and devoid of folks who are not as far down the road of understanding as we are. Gathering ourselves together as a church, means some will be new to belief, some will never have grown a lot in their knowledge due to any number of reasons, and some will be making their way along in understanding, and some will be far ahead of the rest. And it's frustrating to many, to have to deal with those who are insistive that only they know what is the best "interpretation" or way to go. This is what creates divisions in churches, and it's always due to a lack of humility all around, and usually on both sides of the issue.

It's good to be truly searching for answers, but trying to discern them ALL exclusively by ourselves .... well, that's just not to be, and I believe God made it that way so we'd HAVE to seek each others' counsel in order to progress in our understanding better and more rapidly. Unfortunately, all to many churches today have become so afraid of problems that they don't or won't address the hard issues, and a church that won't address the harder issues, really isn't very edifying in the long run. But there are so many churches out there that surely, there's one that might fill the bill for all of us, at whatever stage of belief we may be in.

To me, it makes perfect sense that, when giving us the law proved too difficult for us to follow, that God would send a sacrifice to redeem all us sinners from our rightful fate. And that's exactly what He did, and we've been the undeserving beneficiaries of that immaculate grace for 2,000 years now. And all we have to do is reach out and accept it. Christ stands at our doorway from the time of our birth until our death, with an outstretched hand, bidding us to come to Him. And all we have to do is simply accept that loving offer!

I admire folks who do as Shredder does. I truly do. I think it's the most personal relationship one can have with God. But too many mysteries remain unanswered, and we weren't put here, I don't believe, to NOT answer and figure out those mysteries. And from my own experience, I can attest to the fact that finding answers is the most genuinely satisfying thing I've ever experienced in my life. It's as though God is TALKING to me, directly as an individual, and giving me answers I couldn't have possibly found without the help and input of others. The price we inevitably MUST pay for that, is to freely associate with many who are not always as intent on solving those mysteries and questions as we might be. Many are content to just know and believe they're saved. But salvation without edification always seems to me to wind up being a bit hollow, and I think most have a sense that they're missing something they really should not have missed in so doing. It's as though we've lost our impetus to search, and that's not something that I believe comes from the Lord, but that other, evil fellow.

So church is always going to be a necessary part, I believe, in truly following our Lord and Savior, and it's not going to ever be a faultless or easy pursuit to do that. But if we find a church that "speaks to us," however imperfectly, it'll always behoove us to stick with it through "thick and thin," and be the backbones that hold them together in spite of the faults they all seem to always have. No man is perfect, and nothing he does is ever going to be perfect, as a result of that. But it CAN still be very edifying, and I frequently wonder if it's not God's will that it be so, so that we can LEARN to contribute as well as receive from our churches. It just seems to me to make sense, all in all.

And this little Chapel we have here is a wonderful resource, and I've come to love many who contribute here regularly, because they've helped me come to greater understanding and appreciation of all that God has provided for us in this realm of existence. It's a "church" of a certain type, but I think it'll never be quite the same as a real church with a body of people seeking His word and His edification.

That's my take on it, anyway, based on all I've experienced and seen in my time. But there will NEVER be any sort of substitute for simply sensing His presence and nature, and learning about it all from others. Thanks to all of you who have helped me understand more and better and more completely. It matters to all of us.

[1johnlb]

Jesus constantly seperated Himself from people and crowds to get alone and pray to the Father, but He always came back to minister. It's written He's coming back again for His bride, the body of Christ. Which we all, if "in Christ " are a part of, every part connected which supplies each other. No part of the body stands alone. For we are all to be connected, but that doesn't necessarily mean in Church on Sunday. Being in Christ basically means following Him, abiding in Him, His word written and or spoken.

I believe the reason there's so many denominations is because everytime a person gets a personal revalation for their life they want to make a new denomination and preach it. God didn't call a bunch of robots for we all are different parts of the body with individual and different callings with on mind or head. God calls one to the wilderness and the other to the podium and another to the hospital etc etc.... according to His purpose.

One verse that stuck in my mind years ago 1john5;15
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

How does someone know that He hears us. It takes faith of course but it's not the type where we just believe He hears us and keep praying. It's two way communication, because of relationship. Relationship much like Jesus had constantly, every time He seperated Himself to pray. He said, "I only say and do what I hear and see My Father say and do". As long as your there you're exactly where you need to be, regardless of your physical location. If that location and relationship is like our cellphone connection and we are in the wrong place and we get to that place we have to ask can you here me now, your not in place. If you are where He put you that's where He meets you and there's never a doubt. You know He here's you because there's two way communication.

[Blackwater]

Great point 1john. God ALWAYS answers sincere prayer. He just knows so much more and better and further down the road than we can, that He can't always yield to our requests. He knows what's best, in the end, for us. We only know what we want "right now." And He takes it all into consideration, and knows what's best for us, and that is how He answers our prayers. He's not just some "Big Sugar Daddy in the Sky" that gives us whatever we wish for. He's SO much bigger, better, stronger and more loving than that! Thanks be to Him for knowing so much more and better than we do! Without Him, we'd all be so lost in so many ways, that my mind reels just trying to envision what a life without Him might be like! Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!