Our Thoughts Are Not His Thoughts

I seem to have had a lot of  "alone time" recently. Most of the time when I'm alone, I ponder things. It's a stream of consciousness that would seem pretty odd to most people. I start with a collection of thoughts that come from conversations I've had, articles/blogs I've read, work I've done, and memories. The free association of these thoughts in my head can lead me down a bunny trail sometimes. And sometimes, it leads me to something profound. I'll let you decide for yourself if I got to a worthwhile conclusion this time, but humor me while I get to the point, okay?

It started with thoughts of babies because of a blog I had read. I was thinking about how we are all fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). The Almighty Creator brings forth from tiny cells these amazing beings so that He can love them and hopefully (if they are willing) be in a relationship with them for all of their lives.

Then there was the capture of Ratko Mladić, a former Bosnian Serb military leader who is being brought before a United Nations war crimes tribunal to face charges including genocide and crimes against humanity.  The dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the resulting violence was just a small blip on my radar at the time; but I remember hearing about Mladić and I don't remember any of it being good. He evaded capture for about 16 years, and I admit to being happy to know that he had been caught.


The next thought had to do with another blog I had read that addressed friends who grow apart. I remember thinking at the time I read it about relationships that I thought had too much drama in them. That drama seemed to be a good enough reason to "grow apart". There had even recently been a little "repost this" snippet on Facebook that started out, "there comes a time when you outgrow the drama..." or words to that effect.

The last thought that sort of started bringing this all together was the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). I don't know where this came from other than to say God was trying to get my attention. It was while I was considering this parable that all the other thoughts started coming together as if maybe there was a point to be made. Consider it with me for a moment.