10.25.2010

Discernment

In the midst of sensing that I'll be making some big decisions in the near future, I was encouraged to read through George Mueller's description of how he sought God's will when making decisions about the orphan houses God used him to establish. I hope this is as helpful to y'all as it has been to me.

"I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter...Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions. I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God...If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's Will in connection with His Word and Spirit. I ask God in prayer to reveal His Will to me aright. Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgement according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly."

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Isaiah 30:21

10.10.2010

Mixed Emotions


The drive from northern Indiana down I-65S is familiar territory for me - I made the trip many times during my college years to get from home to Franklin. To be honest, the trip is pretty uneventful...cornfields pretty much the whole way. Within the past year there has been a new addition to the scenery that I just can't make my mind up about - the windmill farms.

Apparently farmers have sold pieces of their land to make room for these towering windmills, and our present/future move as a nation toward more renewable energy sources. Each time I've driven past them, I feel very torn. On the one hand, it is wonderful that we are moving away from the use of fossil fuels toward things like wind and solar energy. We need to do this. And as we do it, the windmills have to be somewhere.

Nonetheless, its painful to see how they interrupt what has been the same for generations. For so long we've looked out over the area and seen nothing but flat fields all the way to the horizon - now there are hundreds of towering specters as far as the eye can see. At night it was completely black except for the stars on a clear night - now there are hundreds of red blinking lights to keep any planes from hitting the windmills. Something about all this feels unnatural and icky, and yet utilizing wind energy is such a positive thing.

So, I find myself torn. I suppose it is yet another thing where we live to learn in the tension rather than assigning a clear black and white, good or bad category. I drove past them again this weekend for my 5-year college reunion (where has time gone?), and the tension was renewed for me.

If y'all have any thoughts please share.