Chapter1:
The author starts Chapter 1 with a story about a situation in which he felt that anything he gave would be squandered.  But he gave anyway.  Should we demand assurance of a desired outcome before giving?  What does scripture say about this question?

How do we move faith from the head to the heart – to a place where we have confidence in our faith, and where our faith leads to movement in mountains?

Where should we see Jesus, and how would this motivate us to action?  How would we know Jesus if we were to see him?

Chapter 2:
What is the significance of the good Samaritan to us?

Bono is not a religious figure.  Some of us probably admire him, some of us probably don’t.  How do you react to his exhortations and efforts?  A more extreme example is Madonna.  I read a brief article Friday about Madonna’s trip to Malawi to break ground for a multi-million dollar orphanage and school she is building.  She also promised to bring electricity to the area.  What does that make you feel?  Contempt, anger, joy?... and why do you feel that way? 

What do you think Jesus mean when he said: “I desire compassion and not sacrifice.”?  How does that statement apply to us today?

Why are you here?  What do you believe we should be doing through Known to Me?

Just here to notify that I will not be able to take part in the chat on Sunday evening.  I forgot about my hubby’s birthday party that night.  I will keep updated and join in on the next chat date, which I assume will be the Sunday after next.

Thanks

Jayne, Hope Vince has a great party! We will look forward to chatting with you next Sunday.  We will try to post some highlights of the chat in the forum, if possible.

I enjoyed the edgy, fun and thought-provoking chat tonight. I know at least one person was not able to make it in to the chat, though, because of technical problems. If any one else had trouble, please let us know!

You do have to log-in as a member under Log-In on the far right tab of the menu bar before the chat room is visible to you. After you have logged-in, that far right tab on the menu bar becomes a members tab. Under the member tab (once you are logged-in), you can pick Known To Me chat room. Once you go to the chat room, you will see your name under the words Chat Lobby. Then you type in the thin, blue rectangular box at the bottom of the page.  You will see other people’s chat messages in the larger box at the top of the page.  There are pictures of this under the Site How To Guide under the far right tab that says Log-in or Member depending if you are logged-in or not. 

Hope to see you all next week.

Barbra

I only posted one remark on last night chat session, but I was engrossed.  I am somewhat ashamed to admit this but I had a little problem, well with following the conversation and collecting my thoughts and trying to type them at once.  By the time I got my thoughts and ready to type the conversation changed.  I am so sorry, maybe this is not age appropriate for me(That was suppose to be funny).  I really did have a lot more I would of liked to have added to the mix but couldn’t get it together.  Wait maybe this is what they call the generation gap, ya think?  No seriously,  I found the whole hour exciting and charging.

Still this morning my thoughts are still racing.  After signing off last night,  I chimed in with Vinny.  He probably was wishing I would just shut up and go to sleep, but I was charged. Anyway a thank you and a wishful thinking for the next chat.

Hi Jayne,

I felt the same way at my first chat.  You will get used to it and be able to jump in.  Please stick with us.  I totally felt the same way after my first try at it.  I didn’t even really want to do it again because it didn’t really make sense to me.  Feel free to post your thoughts here on the forum.  Dad forgot about the chat and their may be others who would like to share their thoughts here.  I would love to know more about what you thought of the first two chapters and the posted questions.  I will be watching for your thoughts.  Geesh!  How many times can I use the word thoughts in a few sentences?

Jenny

Jayne,
I have done this format for another bible study.  But, I will tell you that I had several ALMOST posts, as well. Sometimes I just send them anyway even if the thoughts have moved on. Sometimes I wait. After you do it for a while, it will become a little more comfortable, but there are still times when things move fast.  It is kind of fun.  I am impressed that you figured out how to get there. Can I tell on you, Jenny?? Jen had A LOT of trouble figuring it out the first time.  She did not know where to post, etc. We were on the phone, and I was trying to explain it to her.  That was no help at all.  We were a pair!

Please post more thoughts here! I kept thinking of your comment about seeing people on the side of the road differently now.  That is a big change, and it is something we all struggle with. 

Barbra

Yes, prior to this journey we would noticed people out on North Prospect.  Honestly, my thoughts were not christian like.  I kept thinking they were just there to deceive others.  After working in the county court system I sort of adopted a different outlook on the counties finest citizens.  Not sure if my heart changed first or my head.  Whichever, I saw people in a different light.  Whatever it took to make one beg on a street corner for money or food, regardless of their circumstances or their own heart, made my spirit hurt.  It was not just about them needing food, clothing or money.  It was spiritual.  I actually envisioned myself driving down the street with loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter and jelly, water and bibles.  I was handing them out on the spot.

As far as Bono and Madonna goes.  I would be kidding myself if I said their personalities did not bother me.  But truthfully, this is the world we live in.  Their works among the nations, well I do believe the God will make something good out of anything.  Why is the public eye more drawn to the acts of a celebrity than the works of a church?  I believe the church has been doing its work.  We just don’t see it on a reality show or on the front of a newspaper or on the Internet.  I will be back, someone needs me. (Peyto

Jayne, we’ll have questions posted in the forum by Friday this week.  As you probably noticed, I jumped around a bit and we did not cover all the questions.  But if you want to be prepared in advance, you can type your thoughts in MS Word in advance and then copy and paste into the chat entry so your thinking and typing is done ahead of time.  That’s what I did with the questions so I could toss them out without delay when the right time came.

I was able to “keep up”, but the reality is that we could discuss any one of the questions for hours so the result of the time limitation is sharing a lot of scattered throughts but not much depth of analysis.  I’ll think about how I can shift that a bit as we refine the process.