At home...

This past week has been a little rough. It hasn't been because of anything happening here, I just feel like I've been in a small rut. God has prevailed through all things and will continue to prevail, but that doesn't mean that we always will. Last week, I was a little down for a couple of days, mostly for lack of sleep and a couple late nights. During those couple of days, I noticed that I hadn't been reading like I was. I've been playing catch up, it seems like, since that time. I don't have much to say this time, even though it's been over a week since my last post. One thing that I do have to share is an encounter with a man named Kurtis. It was last Wednesday about 6:30 PM. We've started a new believers' class on Wednesday nights, but none of the youth could come this past time. I had to stick around for band practice when I stuck my head out the door and this man was about to walk in. He's a Caymanian in his 30's and he introduced himself as Kurtis. I invited him to come in, letting him know that Wednesday night services for adults has been postponed until September. He came inside and sat down in my office/nursery, and he began to spill. He was saved in 1997 and has been attending a Pentecostal church since then. The church was very charismatic as he described it...slaying spirits, speaking in tongues, on spot healings, etc. He said that recently there's been some controversial issues come up among the believers in the church. They've seen several times, people with a deadly illness come forward and the elders of the church would lay hands on them, as James says to, and pray for their healing. He said that even still, these people would remain sick and would eventually pass away. He said the people in the church would as the pastor and elders why it was happening, because they prayed for healing and it didn't happen. The way he described it, the answer would always be, "They or you don't have enough faith or trust in God." This created quite a disturbance and caused Kurtis to become angry with the church and he's struggling with his faith now. He asked me what I thought of all that, and I shared with him my beliefs on healing, speaking in tongues, etc. I told him that I believe God can do all things, and we can approach Him with confidence because we know He can do it...but we still abide by His will. We can ask God for healing, but if His perfect will is for them to be called home, then by all means, let them go! If His will is for His name to be glorified through miraculous healing, then let them be healed! This concept of God's will had never been explained to him. They were always caught up in, "Well, this is what the apostles did when someone was sick, so we're going to do it and get the same results." I explained to him that it is nothing that we can do to heal or help people, but it is the Spirit within us that works in miraculous ways. The same Spirit that was in the apostles is in us. We've received the Spirit and now we need to allow Him to move within and through us. We continued to discuss this and many other topics concerning end times, depression, preaching, teaching, church beliefs, Calvinism, Armenianism, etc...We stayed and talked for over an hour. Remember, we had never met before that night, but now we are good friends. He left very encouraged that he could talk with a believer without arguing or disputing over beliefs and faith. This past Sunday, I was playing with the band, and I looked out and saw his face amongst the crowd. He was smiling and seemed very joyful. He looked at home.