I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday after I got back from the power lunch. He asked me if I ever thought I was, \u201csticking my neck out\u201d , being so open about my faith? I understand the question and to be honest it has crossed my mind that all actions have consequences, but I don\u2019t do much more than think of it that way. I said, \u201cMay I ask you a question?\u201d He said sure, so here was my question to him, \u201cPretend that you were in grave danger and someone came to your rescue, and lost his own life in a successful attempt to save yours. Now
\nhis family has asked you to speak at his funeral and tell the assembled people, what a courageous thing he did for you, would you refuse?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a lot of silence after the question, he finally said, \u201cI think I see your point!\u201d Do you risk people being turned off when you openly share your faith? Sure, but when you consider that God sent His only Son to die for me, and Jesus willingly did, how could I not be a witness to that fact?
\nIt\u2019s more than that though. We all want to be loved and God loves us with a love that goes well beyond our understanding. I\u2019m reading a devotional book with my wife called, Extraordinary.
\nThis wonderful book is all about the extraordinary life God wants you to have. The author brings up a wonderful point in one of the first chapters. It is hard for us to believe that God really loves us as much as He does. I know who I am, and knowing that it is almost impossible to believe that
\nGod, \u201ccould\u201d love me that much. The author said, it would stand to reason that God would not make a bad deal. He would never give up His only Son to die for us if He didn\u2019t think we were worth that kind of ultimate sacrifice. A stunning thought! That God loves you so much that He was willing, and in fact did, allow His Son to die so that you could be forgiven and given eternal life.
\nWhat kind of love would lead to that decision, the kind God has for you.<\/p>\n
Am I sticking out my neck? Not near as far as Jesus did………….<\/p>\n
Have a blessed weekend,<\/p>\n
the pilgrim<\/p>\n
*Photo Note: Giraffe in East Africa, Nikon F100 camera and 300mm lens, Fuji Velvia.
\nImage processed with, you guessed it, Nik Color Efex 3.0 – Glamour Glow.
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I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday after I got back from the power lunch. He asked me if I ever thought I was, \u201csticking my neck out\u201d , being so open about my faith? I understand the question and to be honest it has crossed my mind that all actions have consequences, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2761,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/2761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}