Apostle Paul could no more flee or pray away a beating with the rod or whatever else befell him. There are trails, pain, suffering that Christian or non-christian all must go through. And in all of lifes hardships Paul tells us he ‘learned to be content,’ then he tells us how he came to that: “I can do all things through Christ who strenghens me.”
fishon

In The Road Less Travelled, M Scott Peck explains how a lot of us flee from the pain of solving problems and end up either neurotic or with character disorders (i.e. the neurotic assumes too much responsability and the person with a character disorder not enough).

I’d like to add to that the idea that as a Christian we may be tempted to flee day to day problems by imagining that God will lift us out of it all, or prayer will make it go away. But that’s not what God wants for us. He wants us to live and learn, even if at the end of it we are lifted from life and taken to Heaven with Jesus.

#1. “Deeper”
I believe the Apostle Paul defines “deeper” this way, though he didn’t use the word.
Philippians 2:3-5 –Vs. 5, You attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. vs 3,4 Do nothing out of…,” well you can read the rest.

You touched on the ‘fruit of the Spirit.” When the fruit of the Spirit starts to manifest itself in our lives, we are going deeper.

“Rightly dividing the Word” is going deeper.

I think Proverbs 3:5-6 has much to say about going deeper.

Paul, I believe gives a very good illustration of deeper when he says, “…for I have LEARNED [caps mine] to be content whatever the circumstance….”

#2. WOW moments?
The deeper search is the only way that WOW moments will happen. And yes, I assume that those who do not go deeper will NOT have WOW moments with God. Of course, going deeper is always subjective to where the individual is in their journey with Christ. So a babe in Christ can have a WOW moment, and so too the PHd in his/her journey. When I think of WOW moments, I am not thinking about the 27 Eagles my wife and I saw one day, a month ago. That was a wow, but not a Spiritual WOW. That I can not define. Each one will know it when it happens.

#3. “Fishon, it’s not up to you to save the world.”
That is true. The world is far to big for me to cover. And I am sure you would agree, “I can’t save anyone.” But we who are saved are called to be His hands, feet, salt, light, and His ambassadors.

#4. “You sounded sincere in your response to me and I thank you but when I read your entries you always seem to be teaching or preaching.”
Probably true. I just use more words than David uses in his cartoons and drawings.

#5. “Why don’t you share more on how you, personally, feel about about what’s being said. How does if affect you and why.” I’m really interested.
Shelly, for the most part, just me sharing scriptures has drawn the ire of some. More than once I have been invited to “fishoff.”

Though I go further in what I say than many feel comfortable with in this blog room, I choice not to push much further because of respect for the person of David, NP. I have seen to many blogs become name calling contest, and I want to not become a part of that. To tell you the truth, if I were to share how I personally feel about what is being said, sometimes, I would be running up against the line of sin. That is why I go to scripture–I will let God’s word speak, where the Old Fishon would sin.

You asked me to get into more: How does if affect you and why.
2 Reasons. First, I don’t articulate very well in written form.
Second, I would be totally misunderstood [and have been] in this setting.

EXAMPLE:
AFFECT: It breaks my heart to see so many Christians in such distress and pain who are a part of this blog, including the head cheese, and remain there.
WHY: Though each one of us go through those trials, I believe that it is totally unnecessary for almost anyone to remain in the state of distress and pain as long as some on here have indicated. {{{Excluding a physical or mental reason}}}.

Just saying what I said above is going to put some on tilt.

Ok, Shelly, one more example.
The S— shirt.
AFFECT: It sickened me to see a Christian pastor put up such a thing.
WHY: Because I don’t think NP would NOT put it in a box and send it to Jesus as a present as some of his best use of the talent that God has given him.

Well, enough from me. Good to exchange thoughts with you.
fishon