Wandering in the Wilderness

I know just how pitiful a servant Steve is to his Lord. He's self-centered and lazy. He hoards his coin, his talents and his time for himself and his family -- and it worries him. It worries him so much he humbly includes in every prayer to his Creator, "Please have mercy on me a sinner!" -- and means it.

I now worship God at a "stump", all alone and not in a church. That stump altar gets lonely. I miss the fellowship, the music, the things I grew up with -- but at this time I believe the stump is God's will for me. It took my leaving the church to understand just how far the church has wandered from God's basics -- loving Him AND our neighbors unselfishly with self-sacrifice. It has allowed my Creator to drill down through the traditions of men and give me a better understanding of what He's really all about.

It sometimes takes wandering in the wilderness a while for God to clear things up -- to separate the gold from the dross -- to separate His message from that taught by traditions of men. It sometimes takes praying at a stump for the Creator to give a person a new conscience.