Dear friends,
I know you think that I have gone off the deep end. Maybe you think my cheese has slid off my cracker. You may think I have joined a cult. I want to laugh. I also want to cry. What I want is for you to understand why I have done what I have done and why I believe it to be right.
I am that person who has walked to the beat of a different drum his whole life. Sometimes that has weighed heavily on me. There are times where I have been aloof and uncaring. I have come to understand that this is me. Being that different is who I am. I am not one who fits in.
I remember in high school that I was the guy who could hang out with just about anyone. I was well-known by the popular kids and the not so popular kids, but I didn't fit in either group. I was an island unto myself. I wasn't popular, just well-liked.
As I grew, that difference showed itself in other ways. After attending college for one year and then working in Maryland, I joined the U.S. Navy. Others in my family had served, but not many. I spent two years training to be a nuclear power plant operator and four years traveling the world on a multi-billion dollar ship. I traveled to many foreign lands and saw sights that many of my family and friends never have.
I've been crazy enough to apply for a job at the South Pole. I never got the call. Would you like to know something else crazy? I am now 52 years old. My wife and I just finished the adoption of our third child. She just turned two. My oldest is seven. My brother and sister both have grandchildren the ages of my children. See? Me being different.
I won't say that God and "religion" has played a significant part in my entire life, but it has played a significantly over the last few years. I was fortunate enough to find a start-up church that I could get involved in on the ground floor. I felt accepted, and I belonged. After marriage, changes had to happen. Over the years, my wife and I attended some Baptist churches. I've never been a good Baptist, Calvinist, or any other "-ist" for that matter. There was always something about them that bothered me. I didn't feel a part of them even though I attended and had good relationships with many people. Being in the foster community, my wife and I lived differently than many of the people with which we attended church. There always seemed to be a separation.
Covid struck early this year, and we were all forced into a form of isolation. We were all separated. People had their lives changed, some drastically. People, including myself, began to question what was important, what was truth in the media, the government, and I began to question some of my beliefs. It was this questioning that brought me to the point I am at now.
I had read a book called "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry." The remarks in it about the Sabbath and resting impacted me deeply. I expressed my desire to observe the Sabbath to my wife, and we agreed to start doing it. It was different. Over a few weeks, we adjusted to the day of rest, but I wasn't feeling satisfied. I was feeling drawn to do some other things in God's Word that most of modern Christianity teaches against or ignores.
We knocked pork out of our diet next. Honestly, that wasn't an enormous leap of faith or obedience. Truthfully, it was easy. We don't miss it. Obedience to other food laws is pretty simple. We never ate shellfish, sharks, or carrion-eating birds. We were now set apart from most people with which we associated. We were different again. I was different. Again.
I reached a point during this time where I had to come to terms with a verse set I had once believed differently than I do now. That verse set is Matthew 5:17-19.
17 "Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished!19 Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
For most of my "religious" life, I had believed that I could disregard a large portion of the Law of Moses because the Messiah had "fulfilled" it. There were some things I felt I should still follow, but for the most part, I could ignore the regulations against pork and wearing tassels. God forced me to consider this set of verses again. I gave in. Verse 18 is specific. No part of the Torah is done away with until heaven and earth pass away. We haven't reached that point of Revelation 21 yet. We are still on the same one that Jesus walked.
I had also misunderstood what the term "fulfill" means in the context of this verse. In our modern usage, we make it nearly the same as "abolish." I've been there. I've done the tap dance about what applies to me as a Gentile. I've tap-danced around the difference between "ceremonial" and "moral" laws. God pulled me off the stage. No more dancing. Different once again.
Honestly, friends, we are all called as Christians to be different. We are to be "set apart" to use a church phrase. The Word of God tells us that we are "in the world" but not part of the world. We are not to conform to this world. Let me ask, What sets us apart from the world? Is it not our call to walk like the Messiah? Are we not to do what He did? Did He not say, "Follow Me."? Did He not say, "If you love Me, follow My commandments?" We are to be different from this world by being like Him.
Friends, there is a pattern of difference in my life that I have accepted. I believe it is how God has called me to live. I don't think for an instant that I am crazy, heretical, or blasphemous in any way. Some of you probably believe I am all three of those. Some of you may not accept me anymore. I have come to expect and am okay with that. Maybe we should concentrate more on what we share in common belief than what is different and discuss the rest.
I love you all.
May God bless you and keep you.
Larry