Scott-- I still think about your post every now and then, because it certainly seemed to be an important experience to you. And I wonder if I'm catching a glimpse here--(And please excuse the fog; my mind has been absent the past few days, secondary to some cold or flu bug...) The other day, I was talking to a friend who is considering throwing in the towel on his personal business that he's run (mostly subsistently) for the past few years. He's been praying about it for quite some time, and reports no feedback. And our discussion is based on this frustration.

And my reply to him--in my usual blunt form--was to suggest that perhaps God didn't care. (Let me rephrase--God may not care about that.) I'm not sure if God has 1 unique plan for all lives, or if there is some type of matrix in which any number of permutations are divinely inspired. But what I do wonder is if we, as a function of our own human (American) prosperity, have largely lost touch with a true dependence on God? God doesn't care if you have a BMW or a Porsche, because it's all superfluous anyway.

And yet--even in our relatively sheltered society, you still get the reality moments that drag you down on your knees. The mixture of gratitude for blessings, hatred of sin's influence on our lives and others, humility with yourself and others, coupled with hopes and prayers for the future. So that's what I got out of your post. Don't know if that even resembles your experience though.

P.S. Tokyo Rose died Tuesday.