Messages from Monte

In John 4:1-26 , a woman encounters Jesus while going to a well to draw water. If you've attended to church services much, you probably know the story. Verses 27-42 tell us that because of her, many in her village come to meet Jesus and believe that He is the Christ. Another woman’s encounter with Jesus is described in John 8:1-11 . This woman, who was caught in the act of adultery, was brought to Jesus by the religious elite. The law “on the books” would condemn her to death by stoning. Yet another woman seeks out Jesus for an encounter in Luke 7:36-50 . She places herself in the middle of a situation she knows will be hostile just to encounter Jesus. All three of these passages have been explained, taught, and preached by preachers and teachers with vastly more Bible knowledge and eloquence than me. There could be many lessons taken from each of these passages, and each could be beneficially taught to both believers and non-believers. Since I am not writing a book here, I will...

It has been a long time since I posted to this blog. The events of this week have really made me think so I am putting some thoughts "out there" as much for catharsis as for sharing. Sometimes in life, you make a bad decision and suffer the consequences. Consequences can come in many different varieties, from a minor inconvenience to a life-altering, catastrophic event. Sometimes, there was no bad decision, but you seem to suffer consequences. I think, no. I think there is a difference between consequence and events totally out of our control. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and it isn't a punishment - it just is. For instance, if you've planned an outdoor wedding and it happens to be 102 degrees with a humidity of 98% in May, that is not a consequence, it just happened. Some people seem to ignore their God-given ability to think things through. Actions that seem incredibly illogical in hindsight, are taken with no thought of repercussions or /conseq...