Wade Poe

Something I've been learning for a decade or more is that we can trust God and depend on him, way more than we imagine. We can depend on the fact that we are his and he is ours - already, now, and completely.  We can know that he will never leave us or forsake us and we've had any division between us removed. He loves us unconditionally and forgives us of anything and everything - in fact he did that at the cross - completely, fully, and forever. Forgiveness of sins is not "salvation" per se, but it makes it possible for us to have new life with God. A lot of people want to be "saved" but they don't necessarily want new life with God. __________ Jesus said a lot of people would be looking for a religious experience, but not everyone would find the path to life - and they are two different things. It's not to say the religious people won't be "saved" for heaven, but that many will live in less than the best available for them in this lif...

A lot goes into decisions to move on and make a change. Leaving a friend group. Leaving a relationship or marriage. Leaving a church. Leaving a tradition. I've said this in pieces over the last few months, but it's coming together more clearly with each passing week - the leaving behind was more of a leaving something that was already leaving or had left. Some suggested to me that I was leaving a ship that was sinking and I get that, but I don't think it was a ship that was sinking so much as one that was changing directions and getting very focused in the development of a certain quality that I'd begun to move away from some years earlier. Denial is a powerful thing.  It can make you hold on to something with the hope that what you want to be true will be true.  It can make you ignore the things you see with your own eyes. Someone told me that my "new understanding" of God, the gospel, etc would be something that would be a thorn in my flesh as long as I was ...

  God wants to know   (and already does)   if you are just using him for what you want - or if you want to actually know him. __________ You  want people to know what  you  think.  But you’re afraid to put yourself out there. Or at least many people are. Probably most. Even if you’re afraid to admit it and you want to avoid any kind of downside to saying what you think or how you feel, you want to be heard. You can deny it, and I’m okay with that, but it’s true. We live in a culture where we/people are dying for affirmation.  People,  including you,  want to be affirmed that what they say, think, do, etc is important, valued, etc. We live in a time in which people are valued for what they can produce for us (money, agreement, etc) and we know that we are valued in the same way for many people. __________ We’ve all seen memes or reminders over the last ten+ years about the need to  actually  listen to people as they talk and N...