“Faith never knows where it is being led,
but it loves and knows the One who is leading.”
~ Oswald Chambers ~
The concept of faith is a fascinating one whether you are talking about it in general terms or within the context of belief in a higher power. You can’t reach out and grab it, roll it in the palm of your hand, examine it under a microscope. You can’t admit it into evidence in a court of law, design an attractive container for it and sell it on the Internet or wear it like the latest fashion design.
So how do we know that faith even exists?
“Until you settle the issue of your own worth, it’s impossible to bring holiness into anyone else’s life. Until you understand that your worth is already determined by the fact of your birth, everything else is an exercise in propping up a dying tree.”
~~ Carol Brazo ~~
Since I first saw the quote for this week’s writing exercise, one of my all-time favorite Bible passages has permeated my thoughts:
More…
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”"Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Jeremiah 1:4-10
There are no accidents. There are no coincidences. Not one single person is living on this planet at this moment in time who wasn’t placed here as part of God’s plan. Each of us has a specific purpose, a particular path we are meant to walk, neither of which is necessarily easy to discern. We each have something to say, whether we do it verbally, via prose, poetry, musically, theatrically . . . We have each come into this world according to that plan for our life . . . and should leave it in the same way.
We are all equal. We are all worthy.
We are all modern-day Jeremiahs.
This is the story of yet another aspect of my life upon which the hand of God can be seen. It is also an example of what I talked about in my initial post about my six-year journey litigating Conservatorship of Wendland: When you are truly called, you have no choice but to answer.
No matter what the cost.
. . . lose his . . . ahem . . . cookies, so to speak.
I was reminded tonight, as I watched the services for President Gerald Ford and caught a few moments of Ben Stein’s appearance on The O’Reilly Factor, about the evening that I spent with him.
Most people know Ben from “Win Ben Stein’s Money” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Lesser known is the fact that Ben worked as a speech writer for Presidents Nixon and Ford, and is a conservative political commentator. He is also a life advocate.
Bob Schindler, who fought valiantly for years to save his brain-damaged daughter, Terri Schiavo, from an inhumane death by dehydration, has suffered a stroke and is hospitalized in Florida.
Bob and his wife, Mary, became my friends when we were called upon to speak publicly together about the then-pending legal struggles to save Terri in Florida [...]
“This is the hardest case.” So said the Third District Court of Appeal on February 24, 2000. It was the very first sentence of its lengthy ruling.
And, in my opinion, that sentence made about as much sense as did the remainder of their decision, which included a remand back to the trial court. In other words, a directive to go try the case again.
I remember reading that part and thinking, “Over my dead body. Literally.”
There was never anything hard about this case from a legal standpoint, especially after that day in the summer of 1995 when we (me, the managing partner at my firm, Rose Wendland’s then-counsel, W. Stephen Scott, and Judge McNatt) visited Robert at Lodi Memorial Hospital. Judge McNatt said that if he was going to render a decision about the man’s life, he wanted to see the man in person.
Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of the California Supreme Court’s decision in Conservatorship of Wendland.
So how ironic is it that tonight of all nights I happened to run into the trial court judge, Bob W. McNatt? (The photo at right is from December 1997, as he was delivering his trial ruling — victory for my clients and the end of the Superior Court trial.)
I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years and must say that I was genuinely glad to encounter him. I would not describe Judge McNatt as a brilliant jurist, but he is a decent, honorable man who is committed to his work. Throughout theWendland case, I knew that he was doing his very best to be thorough, accurate, and in compliance with the letter of the law. During the trial, he knew that any ruling he made would be appealed, and I always felt that he did his best to provide the parties with his rationale so that the appellate court would have a decent record to review when making its decision.
Consider this:
Angels provide us with many of our insights. We often call this inspiration or enlightenment, little realizing that we are actually taking the light of consciousness that they provide and calling it our own.
Ambika Wauters,
The Angelic Year
