This may seem to be a rather strange title for a Nugget but bear with me as I explain. I have fielded a few questions from readers wanting to know what has happened to the Nuggets.
- “Ian, am I missing something? It seems there has been no Nugget since Jeremiah Tangianau John Glassie’s Story (aPP 19) a few weeks ago. Why is that? Have you stopped writing Nuggets?”
- “You had Kate Diprose in your first Nugget but you have not ackowledged her passing. I have wondered why?”
These two questions sum up the others. They are good questions. Hence my reason for the Title on this Nugget. I have booked slots for two Nuggets over the intervening weeks but they are classified Private at the moment. For my eyes only and awaiting approval as I get the permission to share them.
- In Memoriam (aPP 20)
- Not Without Permission (aPP21)
I have found the last couple of weeks highly impactful but my feelings or reactions are nothing compared with what the people I am praying for are going through. There have been a number of other situations added to my aPP Prayer List. I knew at the beginning before embarking on the Nugget series that it would a challenging one but I did not know the half of it. I have committed myself to praying multiple times daily for the people in my prayer focus. But my list keeps growing in terms of numbers and in terms of severity. Kate’s passing hit me hard for two reasons. One the long term nature of her journey and the sadness of the end to it on the one hand. Sadness for Tania and I in the sense that it gave me a greater appreciation for what multiplied tens even hundreds of thousands are going through with Covid (and we have had even some of those added to our list in personal ways. But more especially because Kate’s passing caught us (well me actually) with a full-on head cold and coughing so that we could not attend the funeral service in person, but only by following the online streaming. I came to realise what many are going through in more poignant ways when they couldn’t even attend their spouse’s or parent’s funeral.
But as the title of the second unshared Nugget suggests, I will not share a story or a Nugget until I have the permission of those who are mentioned therein. In talking with a number of families it was clear that the circumstances and the timing of things meant it was necessary to delay any sharing of their story in the Nuggets. Hence there are Nugget slots that have been held over for a future time. When that might be is in the hands of God and the people involved. However let me also say that over the last two Saturdays I have been involved in one way or another in sad funerals. Either online or in person but each of which were wrapped in extreme sadness for different reasons and on the day I couldn’t bring myself to write anything but only book a slot. One was Kate’s passing and the other was Tania’s dad’s wife, Estelle Henton. The latter was extremely sudden and unexpected but for Lyza Jimenez, made worse by the fact that her grandmother and her father-in-law passed away within hours of each other. All of which led me to question God on a series of related matters. Hence there has been a pause at the Intersection while I have processed things. This is a journey among the paradoxes of Pain and Praise, Suffering and Solace along with Grief and Glory has been been personal, raw and poignant on unexpected levels, but nothing compared with what the immediate families have been going through.
There are two other dimensions of intersection involved as well. I am on the verge of moving on to the Glory dimension in bringing you some serious answers to (y)our questions posed at the beginning with some extra questions added. Some readers have written and asked how I can link God’s Glory with Grief. We are about to head into that country after we pass this intersection. However, that is not the only intersection involved. There has been remarkable parallels or intersections between the Gems and the Nuggets. I didn’t plan it that way but it has happened. Writing the series on A Puzzling Paradox (aPP) has also coincided with the Gem series on That Majestic Passage and the mini series within related to “The Name Above Every Name”. It has been unplanned or unintended and totally instigated by God and not me. Not the least of which has been handling grief or fallout from the passing of people close to us or new close friends who are going through serious health battles at the moment. That coupled with being reminded of some precious truths of Scripture in the Gems while seeing new deeper truths in the Majestic Passage has been timely to say the least.
I am also aware that as in the past with Gems and Nuggets, there are those of you who want me to deal with these matters quickly and others of you who want all the detail. I walk a fine line between the two camps. That has been the case with both That Majestic Passage series (Gems) and the Puzzling Paradox series (Nuggets). Having drawn your attention to that I have come up with a way of classifying the Gems and Nuggets at first glance. I want to be thorough and deal with every relevant angle on the matters on which we are focused. Others of you see those as being side-eddies. For that reason I have been dealing with the suggestions made by the commentators and Bible experts on the possibilities or contenders for the Name-Above-Every-Name much to the annoyance of some of you. As one person wrote, “If it isn’t a possibility Ian, then why tell us about it?” To give you answers for those who come up with such claims. I like to be thorough.
For that reason we (@Bernartideas and me) have come up with ways of classifying Gems and Nuggets.
The Gem colours indicate categories or themes to be announced as needed. The top or first Gem (Orange) is an indicator that you could by-pass this one if you don’t have time or inclination. It is a Gem that is not high priority but was still worth writing. So the recent Gems focused on the suggestions of the Commentators or Bible Experts which were rejected would fit under that category. So too perhaps the series I wrote on Paying Attention to the Blah. It is simply a way for you as a reader to know you could skip this Gem if you wished. Others of you read everything I write. Well here are some indicators for you to know the status of a Gem beforehand.
The Ruby and Amethyst colours (the last two) indicate not to be missed Gems.
We are working on a classification schema for the Nuggets to be determined by the size or quality of the Gold. (In Process).
At least now you know that Nuggets have not stopped, they just needed to be paused for a number of reasons. We will begin looking at the Glory thread with the next Nugget to answer the question I included above as to how I can link Glory and Grief. Simply because God links them. There are some astounding truths of Scripture which await us in the up-coming Nuggets.
thank you Ian for the amazing work you do in educating us in God’s Word.
Thanks for the comment Ross. I am glad that it is helping you.
Reading your nugget, give me another lesson other than the nugget itself, it require a lot of time & commitment to do all these things -> and by these “pieces” the bigger picture is constructed and uncover the new level of secrets
Thanks Regan, yes like with the Bible Gems, I have a bigger picture in mind when I am putting these pieces together. That reminds me of what a number of participants in Deeper Bible in Jakarta said when they saw that I had hidden things for them to find later. I did that in both Deeper Bible and with the Gems. It mirrors the Bible where Father God, Jesus, Paul or the prophets are doing the same thing. It really is quite remarkable.