more letters

From a letter to Bill Kambs, May 13, 1976:

Be dilligent, let the life of Jesus Christ take on a tangible form. The Lord said, "And I will give you intercessory power and you shall see signs, miracles and wonders." What are we going to do? Do you realize that when Jesus called people in the Gospels they were called to a practical tangible action, a drastically radical action? "Sell all you have and give it to the poor," he said to the rich man. The man could have foolishly said, "But giving the poor money isn't really going to meet their need." But he would have forgotten that he didn't ask the Lord how to help the poor. He asked the Lord how to get eternal life. This is probably my natural reaction. I ask the question what should I do? He tells me, then I get into relating to the results and forget that his command really related to the question, "What should I do?"


From a letter to "Brother Frank, Jackie and kids," May 24, 1976:

The Lord is good. Praise his name. I think the Lord began to clarify a principle for me as I read Francis Schaeffer's book, True Spirituality. He was talking about the dilemma of being human. We are made in God's image yet we die like animals. We can't say that we're like animals because we aren't. So we can't live on a lower level and be happy, but we can't live on a higher level either because even though we have a personality capable of moral judgement like God we are mortal like animals and finite where God is infinite. He has no limitations nor does He die. But we are stuck in the middle. This seems to be a principle God wants me to understand. For instance as a 20 year old, we were something, not a child, not a man. We were something, but not what we were going to be. Not a sheep, not a shepherd. We keep on going yet the grass is always greener ahead. We are sort of in the middle of things at all times and to learn to be content in that middle place and to function there and do the things that are for that period without feeling bad because we haven't reached where we can see and without slacking off and taking it easy on a lower level.


I bristle at some of what he's said here -- the God's image part, the implied seperation from nature, the certainty oof the hierarchies -- but I'm touched by this idea of flux he's grasping at.