Soul Talk

The Experience Trap

Quoting from my friend, Mark Batterson -

A few years ag I read a book by R. T. Kendall titled The Annointing. I memorized something he said because it's so true. "The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday."

If don't know Mark, you need to get to know him. His books are awesome.  And this quote is a new favorite of mine. I pray that I will never be so enamored by the past as to forget that God is always doing anew thing.

Another great quote, "When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near."

Ponderings about Africa and slavery

I was watching the movie "Amazing Grace" on TV this afternoon.  It is the story of William Wilberforce and his fight to end the legal slave trade in England. At the beginning of the movie there is a statement that "by this time more than 11 million men women and children had been taken from Africa to be slaves."

My thoughts - this must have been an enormous scar on the continent. I've often thought critically of Africa. I believe it's called "the dark continent" no just because many of the people have dark skin, but because it has been a place of human bondage, brutal government leaders, poverty and disease. I know there is no way to measure the degree of damage slavery caused, but I have to wonder if the wound was so deep and great as to be the cause the suffering of many generations.