Homo Volente...

Pastor: "So, what are you going to do with that motorcycle, son?"

Bike Guy: "Well, I'm going to ride it into town and sell the thing."

(The pastor has been intensly studying the book of James for the past 3-and-a-half months.)

Pastor: "Shoudn't you say, 'If the Lord wills it..., I'm going to sell my motorcycle'?"

(The Bike Guy is somewhat put off by the hyper-religious nature of the pastor and becomes excitedly agitated.)

Bike Guy: "Look, Preacher, I'm going to ride this here bike into that there town and God doesn't have anything to do with whether or not I sell this here bike!"

So the Bike Guy jumps on the bike, kicks the engine to life and slings dirt and gravel angerily into the air. The pastor just smiles, shakes his head slightly at young arrogance and goes inside his house to retrieve a cold glass of lemonade.

3 Hours Later

The Pastor sitting on his porch sipping a third glass of lemonade sees Bike Guys hobbling down the road, clothes torn to shreds, he's in a make shift sling and blood is staining through the legs of his torn jeans.

Pastor: "Well, what happened to you, son?"

Bike Guy: "Well, Pastor (in a more reverent tone than before) it started to rain and I had a nasty spill on my bike and slid for a hundred feet. I hobbled over to an old farm house to get some help. The old lady who lived there met me at the door with a shotgun, so I turned and ran and she fired spraying my backside with lead. I ducked behind an oak tree for cover and as I sat there picking lead from my backside lightening from the rain storm struck the tree sending voltage through my body, knocking me unconscious. When I came too, I hobbled back here."

Pastor: "What are you going to do now?" (In a bit of unbelief at the plight of the disheveled young man.)

Bike Guy: "I'm going to go straight home now..., if the Lord wills."

End Scene

The early church when writing letters to each other, often would end their letter with these initials... D.V. These initials stood for the Latin phrase Deo Volente, meaning "God willing". This to them wasn't the equivalent to our bumper sticker theology where we ascribe our Christianity to trite sayins such as, "Burn Now or Burn Later," or "If God is Your Co-Pilot, Swap Seats," and on and on. This seeming insignificant set of letters, D.V., stood for something much more profound than a popular phrasing of some theological pop culturesque, iconic blathering. This to them meant Life and often resulted in Death.

Deo Volente was a statement of their allegiance to Christ in life and death. It was an encouragement to others as they read these initials to know they were connected in community to someone else who had cast their life's lot with Christ and would be united together in a martyr's death for the sake of the cross. The church under the pretense of these two letters D. V. was an astonishing organism that was a contradiction to everthing in their culture around them. Their resolve to die for Christ dumbfounded and fascinated the wicked world around them who cheered in the colossal coloseum of Rome as these faithful were torn to bits by ferocious animals and gladiators... much the same these two are.

The cancer ridden church today signs its letters with a slightly different set of initials... H.V., Homo Volente. Homo being the original Latin for human being or better person. Homo Volente is writ large upon the hearts of modern Christians who are put out now, not by blood lusting mobs, but tiresomely long sermons and carpet colors of new building projects. No longer is D.V. writ large on the hearts of Christians, but our godless way of going about life and in moments of trouble, we then crank up the prayer phone tree or whatever human method we've devised to get in touch with someone who can get a prayer through to the Almighty. It has become our way (homo volente) or the high way.

We go and do and plan without the slightest consideration of what God's plans might be for us. We devise and scheme and study trends to discern what will increase the size of the crowd so that our resumes are fattened for the successful gauge of the godless organizations who exist under the banner of religion, yet scoff at the site of the true presence of God because it came packaged in lepersy instead of the flashy expensive suit of some celebrity preacher.

Oh, God... that the church still signed it's letters of life with the heart rending Deo Volente than the self glorifying Homo Volente that brings judgement soon upon our land. This might have been avoided... if God's will was the common denomenator in all our Earthly doings...