What's the upshot of this post: Holy baptism is not fire insurance; holy baptism is fire assurance. When last I heard Pastor Angela Shannon preach in person (2019), she quoted Garth Brooks. She spoke of how we are all called to difficult work and how the world makes some people's work more difficult. That extra difficulty, by the way, is not an accident. It is by design. Pastor Shannon then spoke of Brooks and the song, " Standing Outside the Fire ". She quoted, "Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire." She spoke to our group, acknowledging that many there likely needed a rest from their life in the fire. She encouraged the taking of that rest. Then she reminded us that we will have to go back to the fire, not stand outside it, if we want to say we are living. Like all sermons, there is a space between the words of the pastor and the hearer. This is how I heard Pastor Shannon's words and how I ha
Thoughts on what it means to be a traveler on the Way of Jesus the Christ