Like Licking Honey Off a Thorn by JJ Gregg

Some might venture to say that I have had a “love-hate” relationship with the church, but I would respectfully and heartedly disagree. It has been total love, - but love is not always about daffodils and pansies flowing and fluttering in the warm spring breezes. When one risks loving, one not only opens oneself up to the possibilities of moments of wondrous ecstasy, but also to the very real possibilities of deep hurt and flowing tears. So anyway, in my love for, and in my life service to the Church, I am indeed hurt at times when I witness her (the Church) so often seeming to settle for so much less than she was commissioned to be. I mean, anyone who can read the Gospels and find them boring, -- well, - I can’t imagine it! I had a Dentist once who I really liked. That was because he always told me my teeth were in good shape, even though I was not very diligent in my care of them. Finally, I went to another Dentist who took one look at my teeth and almost fainted! $4000 later my teeth were on the road to recovery, and I have taken excellent care of them ever since. Saying to someone, “Everything looks great!”, when you know that not to be true, is not an angelic thing to do, but rather it is actually the ultimate in dishonesty and betrayal. In Jeremiah 6:14, God Himself assailed His Priests saying; “They have treated My peoples brokenness superficially, claiming, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” So, has the Church hurt me over the years? Most certainly it has, especially when it chooses to seek the acceptance and fancy of secular society, over and above seeking to please, praise, and serve God. That said, all that you will read here in this volume is written out of love, - tough love, if you will, but love nonetheless. To quote St. Paul (I Corinthians 13), “If I have the gift of prophesy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, then my life is but an empty shell. Amen!