...as nigh in our minds....

 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same suffering that we suffer.  Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

1 Corinthians 1:7

I would not trouble you with our torment unto death at Caesar Philippi, but rather edify you to your own good purpose; rejoice furthermore as we live to contest again for the cause of Christ, and the message of the power of Christ crucified.  For we glory in tribulation, and as we know of these things, its a narrow turn-around time so often, such that we must go forward boldly, and with the crowing of the cocks and the milking of the cows.

Lamented our very lives in Caesar Philippi, we did, but it was for the cause of Christ, and a case for mercy.

As ever, the Kingdom is at hand--God's glory as nigh in our minds as our senses, and in our hearts, we sit near the throne and plead the cause Kingdom and ongoing mercy.

The cause of Christ is what some call the "constant regeneration" or the constant "generation" of Christ, Christ being manifested within us through our attitudes, our prayers, our own plea of mercy and the hands we extend to the cause of peace.

Forget not the parakleton, the helper sent by Christ: the Holy Spirit; let love abound.  Indeed, with such a peace and joy in our hearts, we could fret only for the cause of the peace and joy of those in the diaspora.  If they knew this love, peace and joy would manifest within them, and so much, if the world were not obviously better, it would be at least quieter, and happier.

Cartesian Doubt and the definition of faith.

In philosophy, there is something called "Cartesian Doubt", as Rene Descartes wrote once, that he was not convinced anything was real, and the probably he was the only real thing in the world, such that he could prove it.  "..if I've convinced myself of anything, it is that I am real."

Oh to live in such doubt!

Oh not to have the loving Father and Son helping us along!

In respect to this doubt, I am thankful so much for my faith, and its fruits of love, hope and mercy.  I love "them" and I love you all.

Paul writes that faith is "the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen."  It's antique language, but our faith is our evidence of God, and we need no "Cartesian" proofs or anything else; in our heart of hearts, we do not have to defend our faith to ourselves.

Something that bears love hope and mercy could never be in any way wrong; we are human, going through our season, and the Holy Spirit, as Christ promised, is there as a helper for God's children.