Preface

Why do we miss the learning we need for wise living as we progress through our singles, doubles, tweens, teens, and yet more? 

What stands in the way of our comprehending?  Is there something or someone to blame? 

Was it our parents?  Were they the ones who failed to ensure we were well prepared for all that life would bring?  Was it the influence of siblings, the kid next door, friends down the street?  Are they the ones at whom we should point a finger, saying, aha, it's you, you were a distraction for me?

Maybe it is something in our genes. Our predisposition. The sins of our forefathers passed through generations, seeds of untold struggles to come, finding just the right space in our minds, hearts, and spirits to come and take their rest in us.

Or is it me, myself?  Am I the one to blame? Did I, too many times, think or even say quite loudly, "I already know all I need to know of this or that"?  Whatever this or that might be; fill in the blank.

And is identifying just who might be responsible and then placing on them the blame what life and learning is really all about? 

And then, just what is the IT, anyway?

So many questions already, and yet there's many, many more.

Do we find some kind of solace; a sense of healing; or a greater rest in somehow paying homage to the blame? 

Or maybe this is where our heart of hearts and our deepest thoughts need to go:  Can the true solace that we seek, the true healing that we long for, and the greater rest we desire be found anywhere but in truth and righteous living?  Is it found in admitting our failures? 

Can we truly learn anything in this life without choosing to fix our eyes on Jesus, trusting that, with all life brings us, His gaze is always upon us, and for us, He's always interceding? 

After all, doesn't He see it all?  Doesn't He see everything?  Isn't that why He came and died on that old rugged cross; to carry our every sin and all our diseases? 

The very weights of the world, the penalty for which we should take responsibility and blame, it was He who took our place? 

The sins of our forefathers, and even ours, just the same, He saw all of it, He knew we would fail.  He knew we would make mistakes.  He knew we would never learn what we needed to know about the ITs of our lives before it was too late.

But YET He came. 

And in doing so, in His coming, it was He who took the blame.  He bore our shame.  How great a Father's love is that? 

He came knowing. Think about that.

He came knowing.  He came knowing.  That's a phrase I've heard so often.  Maybe all too often.  He took the blame. 

Then, let me add just one more thing, another phrase we've also often heard said, He came knowing that I would sin. 

There's something different in the hearing of that statement.  It's likely for four specific words not contained in the phrase written just above…

"…knowing I would sin".

Those four words, whether read or spoken, require each of us to take responsibility.  Responsibility for our choices, responsibility for our actions, responsibility for our sins, and yes, even responsibility for the things we never learned, no matter who we may think my have failed to teach us.  

And as we take into account our responsibility, the best part is, that's not where it ends.  It keeps going, going toward an understanding, even more, a comprehending.  He came knowing that I would ask for forgiveness, and then reenact the very sin for which He came.  I'd end up doing that very same thing all over again. 

He came knowing what was in front of me, the difficulties, the challenges, and all of the struggles this life would throw at me.  He knew I didn't learn everything I would need when the unexpected things of this life would come knocking at my heart's door. 

He knew it all,  YET HE CAME.

So why would we want to cast shade on someone else, thereby diminishing the very reason why He came?  Why wouldn't we want to do our part, own our stuff and take responsibility, if we are the ones for whom He came?

 So it's on that basis I now write this, Book 3, the next in the Unwavering Series.  It is a descriptive story, an allegory, of one thing I never learned or failed to embrace, or so it would seem.