That I Might Win Some

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with a man these days.  :-) His name is Paul.  I like spending time with him because we have a lot in common and we have great conversations.  He stimulates me spiritually, intellectually, emotionally and many times we don’t agree, especially when he says “this is just My opinion”.  I thank him for making that stipulation every time he does for then he liberates me to respond the same way.  :-) We have a healthy relationship now, but it was not always this way.

For a long time, even though I liked spending time with him, I hated some of the things he would say, and I would ignore him whenever he brought up certain topics, for we just did not see I-2-I neither eye-to-eye.  Hmmm.  Anyhoooo, I would just reject those conversations and move on to doing something else.  Then I experienced some deep life-changing encounters with life and the Lord Jesus Christ which broke me and the mold of my opinions and I could no longer ignore those topics I ignored before.  These encounters changed (and continue to change) my way of dealing with things (and people) that I either don’t like, or just don’t agree with, which have been enriching to say the least.

Lately the phrase “that I might win some” has been sticking to me like a fly following the food on my fork. ;-)  Thus I could not ignore it.  I took a long gander at I Corinthians 9 (you can read it for yourself of course) and this part of his discourse begins at verse 19, but the very words themselves are nestled in verse 22b “I have [in short] become all things to all men, that I might by all means (at all costs and in any and every way) save some [by winning them to faith in Jesus Christ].” Amplified Bible. Now I don’t like taking verses out of their contexts for doing so leaves them open for intentional and non-intentional misinterpretation and misapplication.  However, if you read the verses surrounding verse 22 you will see that my friend Paul is very clear about the meaning of this verse.

He is not saying that we become murderers to reach murderers, neither lawless to reach the lawless, evil to reach evil people, etc. but he’s teaching us one of the reasons why God calls and chooses His own to “suffer” in this life even though we have “everything we need” in Jesus Christ Who resides inside of us, and "in Whom we live and move and have our being"; And why some of us will be rich in this life and suffer “differently”; Why we are teleported to other continents to live among the natives ‘there’, all with Jesus Christ residing inside of us.  It is that we may “win some” for they will be able to observe our lives as we endure the same “difficulties” as they do, but holding onto Jesus Christ and being held by Jesus Christ.  Our going THROUGH difficulties and sometimes coming out on the other side victorious victims, and other times victorious victors, but always triumphant because of Jesus Christ who is able to keep us in the fire – before, during and after. 

Paul is teaching us that being a Christian does not exempt us from the difficulties of life that all people on the globe experience, but Christ is the PreservaTOR (spell check doesn’t like that word, but “preservative” is not for human designation/application, and it doesn’t mean the same thing in French.) keeping us from the inside from being annihilated by the difficulties we encounter.  “We BEcome that we may win some.”

What are you becoming?  What have you become because of all you have endured in life thus far?  Everything, and according to Romans 8:28 God means EVERYthing, has been an important ingredient of the beautiful ______ (you fill in the blank) you have become, and what you will be, for life is an evolution, not from apes and monkeys, but from the you of yesterday through the you of today, to the you of tomorrow.  Eternity.

Where were you when God created the heavens and the earth?  This is a question God asked Job when he had much to say about the tests and trials he endured up to the very skin on his body.  Where was I?  Only in the mind of God.  I had nothing to do with my parents coming together, but God did.  He saw everything, the good, the bad and the ugly.  And the impossible.  And still He continued.  God has designed for our lives to touch one another, to touch the lives of others, some we may meet face-to-face while others just through Facebook, etc.  But yet, because you were here and you cooperated with God for becoming who and what He thought of you (Jeremiah 29:11) becoming and doing in the earth, other people are being inspired to be all they can be, that which God designed for them to be.  So they may BEcome and thus win some. 

“He that winneth souls is wise” is the King James Version translation of this verse in Proverbs 11:30.  The soul is made up of the thoughts, affections, emotions, will, intentions, intellect, and intelligence and anyone who is a psychologist and psychiatrist, or a minister who counsels like a pastor, knows the challenge of trying to convince someone of thinking differently for positive change; one must use wisdom and patience to pass through all the hoops of the soul to help others “see the light”.  Heck, to see the light yourself.  LOL!!  But we all know the power of “show and tell” right?  It’s not enough to tell someone about how good the coconut cake tastes, but if you gave them a slice I’m sure you would win them over to it.  Thus the reason for what you are going through today, that you may win some.

The challenge for me has been that which I saw myself as, according to the models around me, and also my understanding and interpretation of what I “heard” and “saw” in my heart and imagination that I would be, and do – does not fit the original thoughts of God for me.  I’m just being honest.  Thus life has been a series of evolutions (going around in circles and cycles, but never being the same after each rotation) for the winning of my soul to the picture of God’s thoughts for my life.  Wonder Woman does it best for me. :-) My SHEro.  She finds an inconspicuous place and looks left and right to make sure no one can see her, and then she turns and turns and turns until she becomes the powerful woman she was born to be when on that “island” of women, before she took her first flight in that invisible plane to the land of uncivilized men.  LOL!!  And so God has brought me to a “remote” place like John’s Isle of Patmos where I turn, and turn, and turn (He turns me on the Potter’s wheel) until I become the one God has created me to be.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Life is a series of evolutions and revolutions from beginning to end.  Sometimes you have to revolt against sin, sometimes against the satan, sometimes against the pull of others, and sometimes against yourself.  But that’s fodder for another meal. :-)

  

I was created to “BEcome that I might win some” – to become what God designed for me to become.  Life is about discovering why the Lord created us and then cooperating with Him daily for the fulfillment of our purpose on earth; An adventure, a neverending story.  Many times we will have to cry out “uncle!” to the Lord depending on what He has created us to be and do, and whom He has created us to win and where, because many of us were not born where we will bloom, prosper, operate and die; for we do not belong to ourselves.  My friend Paul said it twice, and it was more than just his opinion:  “You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own].  So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.” I Corinthians 6:20.  And 7:23 “You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for by Christ]; then do not yield yourselves up to become [in your own estimation] slaves to men (including yourself) [but consider yourselves slaves to Christ].  Amplified Bible.  (Parentheses mine.)

I added “including yourself” to this second verse because I was a slave to my own purposes, desires, understanding, and will for myself.  I was a slave to my own emotions and dreams for my life, and I drove myself to pursue them as fast as I could because I knew how short life is, and can be.  I thanked God for breath and such, but I had a lot to do, in His name of course, yet I thought it was all on me.  I did not mind helping others along the way, and sometimes I lived to do just that, but I did not realize that I was created to BEcome what HE designed me to be for HIS glory, and thus it was up to Him, not me, HOW I would BEcome, WHERE, and WHO I would “win”.  But the first soul that I needed to win was my own.  I am not my own but I’ve been bought with a price, to make a positive difference in and for somebody else’s life.  But the first soul I must win, before this all ends, is my own.  

Peace.

New Glasses

It had been seven years since my last visit to the eye doctor yet my glasses were keeping it together, if you can call having to check the tiny screws weekly and constantly squeezing the frames around the lens “keeping it together.”  I knew I needed to buy new glasses not only because a visit was long overdue, and not only because an optometrist’s machine revealed that my prescription was no longer sufficient for my eyes, but because while singing in a concert last winter, an inebriated man from the audience came up onto the stage and walked on those glasses.  Yes, right while we were singing “Oh Happy Day.”  Everyone saw him do it and followed my eyes and expression to the floor where my twisted glasses lay.

I was not ready to buy glasses for several reasons, but I knew I would have to change that song and dance sooner than later.  Why were my glasses on the floor anyway?  They were beside my setlist and towel minding their own business as usual, beside the microphone stand.  It was the drunk man who was out of place where he should not have been.  Anyhoooo, my singers and I had a wonderful evening together on and off the stage that night and we refused to allow this incident to spoil our evening.  I reshaped my glasses as well as I could and replaced the lens, tightening the screws again so I could “get back to normal.”  But after that night, I never saw the world the same way again. :-)

Finally, nine months later I visited an ophthalmologist who said I have the head and face of a gospel singer.  Then he asked me “what do you do?”  I said “I am a gospel singer, etc.” :-)  When he tested my glasses and eyes he said, in French “they are finished” LOL!  Who knew? :-)  Afterwards I crossed the street to the optometrist to choose some new glasses.  Buy one get one free!!  I was in heaven, so I bought two pair and got two more free.  I was determined not to be left in a situation where I could not see well because of a freak mishap.

The doctor told me what I already knew:  I need glasses to see far away, not for up close or for reading.  And I notice that when I bring anything too close to my face I cannot “see it” – it goes out of focus.  I recall having to learn the different conditions of the eyes in school, but I cannot recall the name of this second phenomenon.  The first one of course is called “nearsightedness.”  I need help seeing “far away” with clarity.  Hmmm.

 This new encounter with my eyes at this time in my life led to another discovery about myself.  Maybe you might see also what I m saying – the words that are coming out of my mouth. :-)  What we do in our environment and world is a manifestation of what we are doing inside – our inner world.  Grant it, I do know that we don’t always do everything we think, imagine, desire, or fantasize about doing, yet because the potential to “do” is great once it becomes a thought, this makes our minds the most powerful places on the planet apart from God Himself.

What was my discovery?  My physical eyes are nearsighted and reflect the same problem I have with my spiritual eyes.  I have no problem seeing, and thus believing for those things which are not too far away, in the future – say tomorrow or even a couple of months away.  I have no problem believing for things which have a date and time for that places a “cap” or ceiling upon the expected event.  However, I need “glasses” for my spiritual eyes, just like for my physical eyes in order to “see” (believe) for those things in life which have no set date or time.  They are open-ended, meaning we have no idea when they will happen, and as time continues to pass with no guardrails or other guides, no stop lights, etc. like a neverending ribbon of road through the desert (and you can no longer see where you started, so you cannot return to that place, no turning back), no modern truck stops in sight and no vacant houses for you to move into, you begin to wonder if those things will ever happen at all.  There seems to be no “accountability” for and to those events with an open-ended time table.

So I struggle to believe for God’s promises when year after year, and now even a couple of decades pass with no evidence appearing, no extra terrestrial or celestial visitations, no close encounters of the third to fifth power happening out in the middle of my desert experiences.  This is not to give the impression that absolutement rien est passé.  Pas du tout, parce que everyday something is happening, whether I can see it or not.  I do know that I myself am changing.

This brings me to another situation I’d like to delicately share.  In the context of “I am changing” it is all happening because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God living in and living through me.  He’s no longer a baby in a manger, even though every year when we celebrate His birth we tend to return to the manger to do so.  I’m not saying this is a bad thing, for to remember one’s beginnings can result in present revelations for life transformations.  However, many people knowingly and unknowingly put Jesus (and themselves) back into that manger and swaddling cloths every year, and some even live as though He is the baby needing them to take care of Him.  Do you pull out pictures of yourself in your baby crib every year that you celebrate your birthday?  Do you revisit the hospital where you were born and set up candles and a vigil?  :-)

But back to my “seeing” situation.  Because of Jesus’ great love for and towards me – I am changing from the inside out.  Jesus is doing in me phenomenal things I did not know I needed to be done.  For me this is resulting in a deeper love for Him which I can only describe with the words I have to express.  Having done this in mixed company I have caused others to experience discomfort because their experience with Jesus Christ has not reached that depth.  It’s like taking someone deep-sea diving when they’ve never learned to swim in four feet of water.  They are offended (afraid).  When I learned that others were offended at how I express the depth of my love for Jesus, that they brought it down to a flesh and blood carnal place where it was never conceived, I was hurt.  At first.  :-)  But then I realized that I am in good company for there was also another woman who semi-publicly/privately expressed her gratitude upon Jesus who also was misunderstood and judged by religious folk.  And of her, Jesus said that she would be remembered on this earth forever.  He was not ashamed to connect and couple Himself, His life, His reputation and name with this low-life trailer trash of a woman.  He graciously accepted, received, embraced and adored her only gift of love – lavish affection and the “undressing” of herself and life upon Him, because He knew that she knew from what depths of depravity He had saved, delivered, healed and restored her.

I too know and understand the depth Jesus went to save, deliver, heal and restore me, but only to the depth of my experience, which in itself is great.  I cannot possibly know by experience the depth of death, hell and the grave Jesus went down into to save just one person – ME.  Let alone the darkness of separation from the Father He experienced on the cross to save all of humanity for all time - spirit, soul and body.  But when I meditate upon Him and His greatness and wonderful love, I am reduced to blubber :-) and my desire to love Him back goes deep, down beyond myself to the point where I desire to surrender my entire self to Him.

See, to and for me this is a miracle because I have lived all of my life trying to please God according to what I knew.  And because I’ve lived all of my life in the church I believed that I had given all of myself to the Lord, the church and ministry have guided my life’s choices, therefore I did not believe or realize that I had much to be saved, healed, and delivered from.  I thought I was “okay” and ready to experience all of my dreams and desires, and all God has for me.  It has taken the past 11 years, little by little, line upon line for God to peel me like an onion to reveal what was well hidden within this person called “me”, even from myself.  It is thus very true that we do not know ourselves as we are known by the Lord.

At the beginning of this 11 year voyage the Lord showed me in a vision His pursuit of me.  He revealed to me what He would do from “on the outside” (what turned out to also be an 'inside job', good grief!) – the before and after, but I had no idea “how” it would happen, neither how long it would take.  I had no idea what I would experience internally or externally as Jesus pursued me to make me His own.  The tears and fears, the emotional highs and lows, the depression of being emptied out of everything I am and knew myself to be, and of everything I had in this life . . .  Even if I could tell you all, unless and until you experience it for yourself you could not appreciate the depth of God’s love for and towards ME.  Therefore, it is possible that you too would be offended by my descriptions and expressions of deep love for Jesus.

I learned through my recent eye doctor’s visit and acquisition of new glasses (les lunettes en Francais) that there was nothing wrong with the appearance(s) of people and things around me.  Red was red and green was green.  The problem with seeing was coming from within me, my eyes – the way they were processing what was falling onto the retinas, corneas, and other eye parts and how my brain was processing them.  So the world around me didn’t need glasses, but I did.  As I shared my new-found deep love for Jesus Christ to other close friends they said to me “there is nothing wrong with how you are expressing YOUR love relationship and experience with God, for it is yours.  When others 'hear' your descriptions they process them according to the definitions/understanding of those words already registered in their lives and experiences.  And because their experiences do not have the same depth and dimension as yours they are offended by yours, because they cannot relate to you.  It doesn’t make theirs wrong either, but it limits your [talking about me/mine] ability to share the depth of your love for Jesus, and/or it limits how much you can share, and with whom you can share it.  It also exposes them to the discomfort that they themselves have not experienced Jesus at that depth for it’s probable that they suffer under the spirits of religion, traditions, and legalism, just like the Pharisees, Sadducees and the disciples who witnessed the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her perfume, hair and tears.” (Whew, what a long sentence that was.)

So I must be more careful in front of whom I undress myself upon the Lord, for I’m sure to offend at least one person who “thinks” they’re in love with Jesus too.  What about you?  How do you see those around you who are different from you physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, educationally, financially, etc.?  When you hear others describe their life experiences with the language they speak, know, and understand do you judge and criticize them?  Do you regard them through your own experiences or lack of?  Or do you admire them for their courage to endure; their courage to bare their souls and lives to critical people like . . . you?

It takes courage to take down your “hair” in public, to reveal your deepest thoughts and feelings to others.  It also takes humility and trust.  So the next time you find yourself as one who is hearing the intimate details of someone’s life, remember that they are trusting you, humbling themselves at your feet.  It is not a moment to criticize, judge or become offended, but instead it is an opportunity to become inspired, energized, encouraged to endure.  And when it comes to loving Jesus the Christ, it is a moment for introspection – “Do I really love Jesus that deeply?  Have I truly given Him ALL of me with no clothes on?”  Hmmmm.  Now, what did your eyes just see?

Peace.

Crossing Over the Great Generational Divide

Older men with young and younger women and older women with young and younger men.  These topics are as old as humanity and people have been “crossing over” the great, and greater generational divide for different reasons.  (I’m not talking about the old men marrying infantile little girls for that’s a crime.  Period.)  I’ve been observing this trend becoming more popular in our contemporary times and I’ve got some things to say about it. :-)  My thoughts are not for those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ because you and I are not/will not be on the same page, thus we will not even be able to make a heart and spirit connection.  This article is for and towards those who say and believe they are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the One and only living God, Creator of the universe.  That means we are “brethren” and thus I have a right and responsibility to talk to and with “family”.

When I say “generational” I’m not talking about “within bloodlines” for that would be incest, etc.  So please, let’s allow our vocabulary to expand and if necessary, read this article with a dictionary at hand.   Now let’s just dive right in, straight no chaser. 

Men who choose to live single lives working themselves to the bone to become whatever they want to become, rich and famous, educated and full of themselves, for the ministry or not, cancerous, old, with high blood pressure, and then decide to reach backwards (or forwards, depending on which direction they’re/you’re facing) into the younger generation to take some father’s young, young daughter to become their wife, in my estimation are selfish.  Why do I say this?  For several reasons and with questions because I don’t want to come across as accusatory: 

 

1.  You spend all of your young years and libido acquiring material and physical things, social status because you believe that you don’t have time for a wife and maybe a family, while you are healthy and able to be with them in every way.  Do you think it is fair to a younger woman for you to not to be able to “rise to the occasion” when she wants and needs you to, and too?  Do you think it is fair to her for you not to be able to run with the children, if you allow her to have children?  (Because you’re too old . . .)  Or if you don’t mind her having kids,  do you think it is fair to her to raise the children all by herself with you just resting in the house because you’ve already done everything to provide all the material things (I won’t say ‘necessities’ because everything is not a necessity.) you believed you needed and wanted?  Yes, I know it was your prerogative, but now you’re OLDer!  You know some things don’t work as well when they’re older as they did when they were younger, especially if one has spent his or her life taking things for granted and not taking care of the spirit, soul, and body.  Biological clocks tick for both men and women.  Pay attention!!  Viagra is not safe.
2. Do you reach back for someone to take care of you in your older years as you provide for her materially?  What is the guarantee that she will stay with you if she is virile and becomes like you – reaching back to the younger-than-her (and younger-than-you) generation to get and keep her groove on as she too ages?  Hmmmm, what goes around always comes around in this life.  This stuff doesn’t happen in the after-life. :-)
3. Or, and I hope this is the case more than not, do you desire to be with a younger woman because she has a dream that’s bigger than she can accomplish alone, and you want to be part of something bigger than yourself?  Or maybe you’ve acquired wealth just for this reason – to help someone else acquire and live their dream and purpose while you become life-long companions in the process and journey?

I’ve heard arguments from many men that all women are gold-diggers, diamond-miners, controlling, searching for their daddies, etc., yada, blah blah blah.  Hmmm, but that’s just not true.  Most women have a place to live, even if it’s not where they want to live until they die and even if the conditions are not optimum; most sane women are not trying to get a man just to find a place to live. 

Most sane women who are educated and have a car are not looking for a man to give them a car (and even some who don’t have cars are not looking for this either), and even some women who have not earned their college degrees are not searching for a man to provide them with material things.  Most everyone nowadays has a computer, telephones, televisions, etc. and many even sleep with them, but most sisters I’ve talked with from several ethnicities and countries don’t find sleeping with their phones, televisions, and computers satisfying.  I know I don’t, so I don’t sleep with them, much less have sex with them.  Hmmm.

Most of us sane women who are being transformed by Jesus the Christ enjoy real face-to-face interactions with healthy men for healthy reasons.  I’ve never been a digger in a gold or diamond mine, and I’ve never sought for a man to be my daddy.  Not all of us educated women are controlling, neither are we men-bashers, nor do we hate men.  Many of us pray for men, and for them to take their rightful, God-given places in society and this world, because for His own reasons God chose to create man first as the first human being.  And yes, I know that sentence might just be redundant, but it does the work doesn’t it?  There’s no misunderstanding what I mean is there? :-)  Hmmmm, anyhooooo . . .  We thus have learned to agree with God because we know He knows what is best – He knows the end from the beginning.

Older women who seek out younger men.  Hmmm, why?  Because men their own ages don’t seem to want to relate to women closer to their own ages.  Why?  Because the great social, intellectual and economic divide has been diminished because of “equal rights” and men can no longer tell women what to do just because they say “do it”.  Men can no longer “control” women as the weaker gender.  Women are full of excitement and life and vitality, visionaries and dreamers, world travelers, ministers, life-coaches, motivational speakers-teachers-preachers, and they desire men who are not dead on the vine.  Sorry guys, but it’s the truth.  But there’s also a problem women:  As your young buck ages, or he gets his education (if he doesn’t already have it) and begins to mature, he too will do what you have done and that’s reach backwards (or forwards) into the next generation and grab a younger-than-him (and younger-than-you) filly, and she will probably be silly, to keep his uneducated ego alive because neither his mother nor you dealt with his “young boy insecurities.”  But the younger silly filly will thank you for preserving him for her because she will be too immature to realize that she now has an older dumb man on her hands.

Young women who seek out older men.  Why are you doing this?  For security purposes?  Was your father that much older than your mother and you’re just following in her footsteps?  Was your daddy not “there” for you? (And I don’t ask that sardonically or sarcastically because fathers are absent for myriad reasons.)  I can’t blame you though because most young men in your generation don’t wear belts, all they know is the language of video games, they live in their telephones and computers, they don’t wash, groom or use deodorant, they have more than one girlfriend or boyfriend at one time, they don’t respect the elderly (so that lets you know how they will treat your parents and you NOW and when you get older, unless Jesus intervenes.), they can’t read, are not committed and will drop you like a hot potato if you have sex with them and get pregnant and don’t get that abortion, they don’t communicate in complete sentences with punctuation marks so you can understand and follow their train of thought(s).  Yes, I’m talking to and about people who claim to be Christians for this is happening in the so-called “Christian” community too.  And it is global. This is no longer (if it ever was) just an American phenomenon and disease.  (“Dis-ease” is when the mental and emotional faculties are disturbed and not at ease, and when left unattended for extended amounts of time can result in sickness and illness.  “Sickness” and “illness” are terms used better to describe physical dysfunctions.) 

   

Young men who seek out older women.  What are you doing?  Replacing your mom?  Trying to get a free ride so you don’t have to work or pay rent?  ‘Cause you know if you get that older educated woman, she’s not going to be living in a shanty wearing rag-tag clothing?  And if she’s going to allow you to be with her, she’s going to buy you the clothes and shoes you need and want?  So you believe if you can keep her sexually happy and alive and feeling young that she will put up with your boyhood charm and bull?  And then the world wants to call her a “cougar” for settling on you rather than settling to be alone since someone her own age doesn’t want to be with her, but wants someone more than 15 years younger than himself.  So now what is he the older man called?  A cougarette?  A lynx?  In the 80’s younger men who rented themselves out to older women were called “gigolos”. 

If this much-older-than-you-woman wants to still have children, are you ready to marry her and be a father?  Hmmm, oh my goodness what a . . . situation.  (You can fill in the blank.)  Most girls are raised (whether on purpose, by accident, or through life-models) to become mothers at a young age (this doesn’t necessarily imply maturity to do so, but the inclination to seek pregnancy to beat the biological clock, or to trap a man, or . . .), but boys are not raised to mature and become fathers at a young age.  Any sane older woman will just use a young buck as her boy-toy and not consider him to be “father” material for her children, for she will be raising more children than she gives birth to.  Will she have to peel your fingers from the video games so the real children can play with them?  Will you ever get a full-time job or start a family business?  Will you always argue about how much television you watch while the house falls apart?  Hmmmm, that’s why you left your first mother’s house, right?

I remember while growing up hearing the adults telling the younger children to “go play with the children your age” because they knew those children were closer in maturity biologically and socially.  For younger children to try and hang around with older children (or all the time with adults) will expose them to things they might not be able to handle.  Older children also have a tendency to pick on the younger ones because they’ve not yet developed a maternal or paternal instinct towards younger children.  Younger children have not yet developed the social skills and language to relate to the older ones, and be able to take care of or defend themselves.

One of our cousins, let’s call him Robert, was much younger than us, but there were no other children his age nearby for him to play with.  My brothers made fun of him, hurt his feelings, picked on him as older boys do with younger ones, but they would never allow others to hurt him.  If he came home hurt or with a report that someone bullied him, my brothers would seek out the perpetrators and set them straight.  Thus my cousin and my brothers are glued to each other for life.  They developed a bond that to this day cannot be broken by anyone. 

You may say this example has nothing to do with my main topic at hand, but it does.  I am not saying that older men cannot relate to younger women, and older women cannot relate to younger men, because anything is possible.  But I do believe those relationships that do work are very unique and special.  My favorite “old man-young woman” story is found in the Old Testament book of Ruth.  In the third chapter verses 10-11 (The Healing Bible) “Then Boaz said, ‘May the Lord bless you, young woman.  You have been very kind to me.  Your kindness to me is greater than the kindness you showed to Naomi in the beginning.  You could have looked for a young man to marry, rich or poor.  But you did not.  Now, young woman, don’t be afraid.  I will do what you ask.  All the people in our town know that you are a very good woman.” 

It is a beautiful love story, and yes it is from a different culture, but we see that age does not have to be the limiting force, or a barrier between two honorable people who desire the same things in life, who desire to build up one another, who are called by God to complement one another’s destinies, purpose and God’s will for their lives.  Sometimes when we connect with people like us in age, status, etc. we end up competing AGAINST each other rather than with and for one another, rather than motivating one another to excel and succeed.  I was in a situation in which I was being blocked from being all I could be and doing all I could do, and through a dream the person was exposed and he confessed that he was indeed blocking me.  Needless to say, we could no longer “be together”.  Even though he was a little older than me, we were not in different generations.  There was no generational divide between us, but something else called “how much do you really want to obey God for your life”, which is the topic for another time. 

 

I know there are many “Ruth’s” “out there” waiting for their “Boaz” and I pray that they all get to meet him, no matter what the age difference may be.

Peace.