Our Story

 

Why 'Gentle Thunder'?

   Soon after becoming a believer, I noticed a common theme of commentary about Jesus from both believers and non-believers >>>

 

- "He's too meek and mild to be God incarnate."

- "He's a weakling who instructs us to 'turn the other cheek' after being struck."

- "Loving my enemy, as Jesus teaches, will only get me more beat-up and the bad guy wins!"

- "Jesus is such a pacifist, who shows very little power and strength; He's certainly not the mighty God of the Old Testament."

 

In my scriptural studies it became clear that none of these statements are true. When teaching, Jesus always leads with love and patience. Time after time, Jesus approaches his 'flock' with gentleness.

Jesus always confronted the Pharisees head-on and powerfully to reveal their lack of true faith. No matter how strong the pushback, Jesus was relentless and, at times, almost thunderous in how He exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. 

As my own faith matured, I wanted to find a way to present Jesus to friends and family that might better describe His true person. Two words, at opposite ends of the spectrum, kept coming to mind...gentle and thunder. Spending much prayer time on these words seemed to only make the connection stronger. Scripture abounds with examples of Jesus' unconditional gentleness and His deep, powerful and, yes, thunderous strength.

Over the years I've shared this perspective of our Lord and people have enthusiastically agreed. While there's no intent to add another name for God from what the Bible teaches, I believe the notion of viewing God as 'Gentle Thunder' makes sense and provides many opportunities to creatively share the Gospel with non-believers and to perhaps shine more light on God's word for we believers.

I pray that you enjoy this ministry and if the concept inspires you to want to literally wear 'GentleThunder' out and about, then I hope you enjoy the product offerings. 

One last point...Early in my walk I prayed for God to break my heart for something that breaks His. Nearly instantaneously it was revealed as the willful destruction of the unborn human...abortion. I was blessed and honored to spend about 12 years on the board of a local pregnancy resource center. I witnessed God's powerful hand there and on the hundreds of these vital ministries across the country. 

My 'activism' on this topic is nearly zero to do with abortion being legal or illegal...but instead to focus on the scientific truth that life begins at conception...and that it should become everyone's will to preserve and nurture that life up to the point of birth. 

There's so much work and prayer needed to create the shift in our culture to support the lives of the unborn. To this end, a portion of every purchase from GentleThunder will be donated to pregnancy resource centers locally, regionally and, prayerfully, eventually nationally.

Looking forward to sharing more on this and many other topics in the GentleThunder weekly message postings.

May your days always be wonder-filled...and focused on the Lord