Follow-Up on Free Will

When running, I have the free will to run my own race or workout as I will.  I also have the free will to follow someone else.  That someone else may be running their own race and I try to follow them.  Or that person may be willing and attempting to pace me.  I run the best races when I plan my own race and stick to it (using my free will, my patience, and my own drive) but I sometimes have greatly benefitted from having someone else who knows better than me guide me along the way.

This is where I find a major crossover between my running life and my spiritual life.  God gave us free will.  I have the free will to choose whom to follow.  The key is to make the right choice about whom to follow as a guidepost for my life.  If I follow the right person/philosophy/worldview/God then life will be made more fulfilling, more enriching, and more hopeful.  If I choose wrong, well...  Things won't work out so well.

So there is a lot to be said for free well in choosing how to run and in choosing how to live.

A Few More Thoughts from Fr. Sam

Last week, I had commented extensively on Fr. Sam's homily.  This week we had a substitute priest as Father Sam was away.  I still had two notes from my interpretation of what Father Sam said a week ago that deserve some mention.  First, he told a story that I am sure he had told at least once before.  It was about the washing of the feet.  He indicated that there had been a woman who had prayed complaining to God that there were "so many dirty feet".  The answer to her prayers was that there were only two dirty feet and they are Jesus's.  This, being in Fr. Sam's theme of service, and this being a direct take off on the things that Jesus told us about when we clothe, feed, or give water to the least one here on earth we are serving him directly.

The other note from last week was a comment about how prophets in the Old Testament were always sent to bring people who had strayed from God "back" toward God.  I suppose there would not have been a need for prophets if people continued to believe in God and follow all that was set before them.  It is interesting to think about what that means today and what it means about human nature.  Even in my own observation of what the church is telling me, I think about how the messages are much more important to me when I am struggling with what God is asking for than when things are great.  Although in my ongoing efforts to make my spiritual life a part of my everyday life and not just something for when I am troubled or when I have a "favor" to ask from God, I have sought to make inquisitiveness about my faith something that is there all the time and not just when I am in need.

Fr. Sam always gives the congregation a lot to think about.