if abraham lived today and God told im to go kill isaac, what would he have done, and what would have been the consequences?

on sunday i watched the london marathon round at my next door neighbour'shouse and i sat and cried through a lot of it. the thing that got me was the interviews, when the tv presenter was stopping certain people running and interviewing them asking what they were running for ad how much they were hoping to raise. most people were running because they had been directly or indirectly affected by some kind of challenge/battle and part of their chosen fight was to raise money and run the marathon. this gutted me because in my current battle it's not one i've chosen, it is one that i only believe i can win because i choose to keep trusting God (and if i don't win this battle i choose to trust God in that too). i felt a whole bunch of self pity, grief, deep sorrow and a kind of over-whelming helplessness.

so right now i am putting my hope into the day when the battle i am in ends and i can choose a battle to fight. it has even crossed my mind to choose to fight the same battle agin (but this time on my terms) and perhaps run the marathon and raise money to support others going through what we're going through.

the title of this post isn't there just to be funny. it's really a serious reflection. we look at the story of abraham and isaac and see his amazing faith, his conviction to obey God, God's provision in the light of said obedience. but today? would od still ask someone to do that and what would be the consequences? the child protection procedure is a giant beast writhing around in he lovely multi-aency culture we see ourselves in where using bubble bath on a seriously eczma'd child (becasue you believe God told you to and interestingly washed the eczema away for just over a week) is seen to be a pointer to significant harm/risk. sadly one of many misunderstood actions and words taken to the same end point.

or Lot in sodom and gomorrah who turns out his virginous daughters (likely under 18) to the crowds so that the 'stangers' are spared the lustful desires of the town's men. where do we look at that and reflect on sexual child abuse and the sexual culture of that city in general, rather than banging on (excuse the term) about gay relationships when it has always seemed to me that the story of sodom and gomorrah is much more about hospitality than anything else, which is the context where Jesus himselfs refers back to it (Matt 10:11-15).

going now. enough there to chew on.