Why did Stephen get into trouble with his fellow Jews? Do people always like healing? Can Western Christians today get into trouble for offering to heal people? Karl and Susie Gessler talk about these questions and other thoughts from chapter 6 of the book of Acts in today's podcast.
Also included in today's Podcast is Karl Gessler's original poem "Wanderer Take Courage".
Wanderer Take Courage
(by Karl Gessler)
We are a strange and beleaguered people
Looking for a home
Wandering in desert places
Looking for a home
Aware of a greater purpose
But unsure about what it is
Wandering in desert places
To find a place to live
We hear a voice that’s calling
Or is it an echo of our own?
“There is a place of freedom”
“There is a place called home.”
What can we really believe in?
Is life just dust and wind?
Is there a future to make sense of the places where we have been?
Oh wanderer take courage
You will need it for the fight
The land is filled with enemies
Who taunt you in the night
In the restless place of your private thoughts
In the hopes you cherish there
In the secret hope of ultimate meaning
A demon lingers near
To attack you in your longing
To negate your hope of light
Oh wanderer take courage
You will need it for the fight
There is a land of satisfaction
A place where the real is real
A solid ground beneath you
A place that you can feel
So let your exploration
Not fail in courage on the day
You perceive the one who heals you
And takes all your doubt away
But the choice is voluntary
To hope or to despair
For life or for the grave
“Who you are” is determined there.