John Gunter

Pics taken by a friend two days after the big earthquake.

“Get back in the car and drive off of the bridge!!!” These words broke the chaotic, rancorous silence as I anxiously shouted in the local language at our terrified cab driver. My world was in the process of crashing down. . . literally.

It was May 12, 2008 at 2:28pm. My good friend, Paul Quiros, was with me. I had been working with him all week in investigating the possibility of his law firm opening up a practice somewhere in this country. Our second leg of the journey landed us in the middle of a bridge, seemingly at the end of the world for most people in my life in America.

As we drove and talked and prepared for our next meeting, the bridge underneath us abruptly began moving. When I say moving, slamming back and forth is more like it. It was a packed road. There were buses and trucks and cars back to back as far as the eye could see.

EVERYONE panicked in abject fear, abandoned their vehicles, and ran. No one really knew where they were running, but frantically run they did. Paul had the presence of mind to yell that we had a better chance of survival by staying in the car and getting off the bridge than we did running.

I screamed at our driver to get back in the car and drive. His eyes were literally Continue Reading…

As was the case a few weeks ago, I wanted to share another “open letter”.  This one was to both the same girl from the previous letter (CLICK HERE to read it) and her best friend.  In follow-up to the question about dating, they sent me the following questions regarding prayer and the Trinity.  I answered their questions by explaining my principle in dealing with seeming contradictions of faith and the Bible.

My setup at a local Starbucks. . .

I know this is more technical than any other post on this blog, but hopefully it will be helpful to someone with similar questions.  Again, I do not claim to be a theologian, but rather a Christian who has wrestled with my own faith on many levels.  This email is the product on some of my personal wrestlings.

As was the format with the letter on dating, the first part of this post is the email the two women sent to me.  Following this is my response.  These are both abbreviated, as I deleted the personal content of the exchange.  (I have added some headings in this post to better assist in organizing it.) Continue Reading…

In honor of Easter Week, I will write three posts over the next seven days more focused on Christ and the Bible.  Here is the first.

My old fraternity house was an unlikely place to learn about prayer

When I came to faith in Christ back in college, my mind was rough, to say the least.  It was packed with rapid fire emotions and thoughts of aggression, anxieties, lusts, and everything else which vie for the mind of men.

One of the practices I came to was a simple, yet profound act for me.  I decided to physically kneel down in my room and pray Psalm 19:14 every night.  There I was, hunched over a musty brown couch, in my tiny, dank room, on the second floor of my beer and sweat soaked fraternity house, praying nightly for the Lord to simply take over my thought life.

Thankfully my roommate was ALWAYS out way past my bedtime, so I was safe from him awkwardly walking in during this time!

Today, many years later, my prayers look and sound similar.  This is my prayer today, but my heart for everyday…

Lord Jesus, please guide me this your day.  You have given me this day as a gift, so please direct it at every turn.  Please control my sinful urges, but unleash my God-given desires and Continue Reading…

A prayer of Proverbs 1:7 . . .

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction (discipline).

Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the foundation of all knowledge.  You are the creator of all.  You know the exact number of hairs on my head and the days of my life.  You knew of the extent of my life before I was even conceived.  Thank you for such knowledge.

I was not there at the foundation of the world.  You were.  I was not the one whom poured the vary waters of the seas.  You were.  I did not hang the planets in orbit or the stars as ornaments of your glory.  You did.  Thank, Lord Jesus, for such knowledge is beyond my comprehension, yet not yours.  You truly are the foundation of all knowledge.

As true knowledge is from you and you alone, so is true wisdom.  Wisdom is forged and refined by time.  Wisdom is where knowledge, integrity, and persistence meet.

Wisdom is begun by knowledge of you and your ways.  It is lived out in Continue Reading…

A prayer through Psalm 37:1-12 (Scripture indented)

⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Lord Jesus, may I truly delight in you and your ways during this your day.  May I trust in you above all others and all gifts.  You are good.  My core tells me this and life affirms this.  May my heart truly delight in you and your ways.  When I step away from you, life is confusing and painful.  When I walk with you, delight in you, I am at home.  Father, may I delight in you in everything.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. ⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

Lord Jesus, please grant me the strength to simply commit my ways to you this day.  May I wake up today and do what I know is right, as is testified by you and your Word.  Where my trust and faith are lacking, please help me.  Grant me courage, stamina, and strength today.  May I trust in you in everything, confident in your words that you WILL act.

⁷ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! ⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

Father, quite my heart and mind before you.  Help me to wait patiently in all things, even as I act in faith and obedience today.  May I see that waiting patiently on you is a quieting of my soul, not a paralysis of my feet nor a lack of giving through my hands.  Your will for humanity is clearly spelled out in your Word.  May I be quiet before you in my Continue Reading…