Date: 04 April 2012 12:25:01
I hadn't realised how long I've been away. I decided to take a short break from blogging and then decided on time away from Facebook.
Work has been bust, frustrating, quiet and annoying. I work in a "customer facing position" which means I have to interact with people (customers, suppliers and colleagues) whether I'm in the mood to or not. This had led to several frustrating conversations over the last few months. Yet all my customers and most suppliers and colleagues say how happy I am and always ready to laugh and joke.
Most of the time I would like to converse via the means of an AK47 or a tactical nuclear strike. In fact, my default position for any problem is now to say that "it would be easily solved with a tactical nuclear strike".
Screaming kids? Annoying colleagues/customers? In considerate motorists? Wotld debt and inequality? Striking tanker drivers, trade unionists (of which I am one) and foolish government ministers? All these problems would be solved with the aid of a tactical nuclear strike.
That's where God has changed. What happened to the Old Testament God? Why don't we have the plagues, the droughts and famines, thunderbolts and lightning very, very frightening me!!! Galileo! Galileo! Galileo! Figaro!! Magnifico-o-o-o-o!!!
Sorry lost myself there :-)
At Easter we celebrate the death of Jesus and the resurrection that followed. After all what point would the resurrection be if we had no crucifixion to precede it?
And this is the thing... Easter saw the change in |God's image to mankind. Out went the scolding God of the Old Testament and in came the kinder, gentler God who seeks to forgive and not punish.
I know, I know, this is an over simplification but that's how most people think.
Sometimes it would be nice if God returned to type and threw a few thunderbolts and plagues. I'm sure that many people would be happy if they could still hear the voice of God - not that of some televangelist or boring preacher - directly. Mind you, people who claim to hear it are usually written off as nutters.
Yet I think that this is what my absense has been partly for. I want to get some peace and quiet so that I can recharge but also find a way to reconnect to that God I miss. The one that I used to feel very close too but seemed to lose for a while.
As such we have returned to our old chapel in Newport, where I grew up as a Christian, and which has always felt like home. Slowly I am beginning to find that life is a challenge but one that I can beat, with God helping. One where nothing is really that problematical - well easily overcome with either God's help or a tactical nuclear strike.