{"id":7664,"date":"2013-09-05T05:39:03","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T12:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=7664"},"modified":"2013-09-05T22:36:03","modified_gmt":"2013-09-06T05:36:03","slug":"letters-from-god-dropped-in-the-street-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/09\/05\/letters-from-god-dropped-in-the-street-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters from God dropped in the Street, part 2*"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Book\"<\/a><\/h6>\n

We’re still in Oregon, departing today. We’ll head to Napa where Anne will host a printmaking workshop for a number of artists gathered there.<\/p>\n

The time here has been profitable in many ways, some in the big “hoped for” ways, others in smaller, unexpected ways, like coming across a book in a used book store with a message from God.<\/p>\n

The same happened last time we were here. I don’t know if this town has an abundance of Christian readers, or a population of such now casting them off. Either way, I’ve added to my library cheaply with some gems. And not just the library but the mind, which is the point, and the spirit.<\/p>\n

If God is guide in all things, I suppose there should be no surprise. But imagine mine when, after all my recent reflection on voluntary slavery to the Lord of the Universe, even piercing my ear as symbol and reminder, I happened by a sidewalk bin of free books, picked one up, opened it randomly and read the following:<\/p>\n

“When we think of a servant, in our sense of the word, we think of a man who gives a certain agreed part of his time to his master and who receives a certain agreed wage for doing so. \u00a0Within that agreed time he is at the disposal and in the command of his master. But, when that time ends, he is free to do exactly as he likes . . . . But, in Paul’s time, the status of the slave was quite different. Quite literally he had no time which belonged to himself. He had no moment when he was free. Every single moment of his time belonged to his master. He was the absolutely exclusive possession of his master, and there was not one single moment of his life when he could do as he liked. In Paul’s time a slave could never do what he liked; it was impossible for him to serve two masters, because he was the exclusive possession of one master. That is the picture that is in Paul’s mind.”**<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was stunned. How did the air know I’d been thinking on these things? Apparently it’s literal, in God we live and move and have our being<\/em>.***<\/p>\n

I took the book and have been eating it since. As it happens, that passage was the only one on that specific topic, making my happening on it all the more, what? Guided<\/em>?<\/p>\n

The book goes on to explain how the analogy isn’t perfect, the Christian being also the freest person in the world . . . and the one that can most expect to be provided for, and rewarded as he goes along.<\/p>\n

Like finding a book on the street whose message carries more value than anything I might have thought I’d traveled a long way to get.<\/p>\n

For you, too.<\/p>\n

__________________
\n* \u00a0 \u00a0 Walt Whitman, quoted in an early Blank Slate, Jan. 8, 2012<\/a>.
\n** \u00a0 William Barclay, in a book on the Holy Spirit by Billy Graham.
\n*** Acts 17:28<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The theme continues, not because I’m doing it; rather these messages drop in front of me. For you too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7664"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7691,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664\/revisions\/7691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}