He will direct your paths

.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
.
.

world without end (or beginning)

Many believe in an eternal life as something in the future. It's harder to conceive of a world that has no beginning, i.e. no big bang to get things started. However it happened, three dimentional life and spiritual "life" have evolved or emerged. Mysteriously, the spiritual forces have acquired some control over the temporal (natural law) existence. The Judaeo-Christian God as one of these forces has some control but not absolute control (how could a loving God allow genocide, for example). The concept of a loving God has shown survival value in the ebb and flow of life forces. We choose to honor this God who (however evolved) enables much love to be expressed in the world. Jesus the Christ was the highest expression yet of this love and his living presence helps us show this love. It would be nice if this god could be all powerful and answer all prayers for healing and peace, but other spiritual forces must prevent this from happening. It's not God's fault that evil exists. Similarly other gods (Allah, Buddah, the animist, Hindu) enable their believers to experience meaning and hope amid the experiences of this life. These gods -- like angels -- are real and not the creation of men's minds. This is not a well developed systematic theology and likely never will be. It's just one person's attempt to understand how god can be love yet not all powerful.

Failure and Success

.

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Michael Jordan
.
.