(posts) Romans 5:3-4

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope

Notes:

Google's AI search overview offers this summary of the verses: "Christians can rejoice in their sufferings because suffering produces perseverance, which in turn produces character, and character produces hope."

How does character produce hope? For that matter, how does experience? Experience producing hope I can sort of see.

Follow-up questions led the AI thing to say that the King James Version (KJV) uses "experience." Another follow-up led to this portion of a longer response: 

"Experience" in 1611 English: While the word "character" might be the most common single word to translate "dokime" today, the KJV translators used "experience" in a way that captured the sense of proven worth and the outcome of enduring trials, which was common in their time. It conveyed the idea that through patiently borne afflictions, a Christian gains a deeper knowledge and assurance of God's faithfulness and their own sincerity. 

 

about what's amazing

For a little while, I often found myself amazed—amazed by parts of the physical world around me, by developments in my life, by little moments, by lots of things. I know people have been using the word casually for years now, usually just to pay a compliment or to describe a fun experience, sapping the meaning out of it. But I think my dad's decline and passing and my getting older helped me appreciate more in life, and I was thinking how amazing some things really can be.

Like, I was taking the the subway regularly for work. The infrastructure of a public transit system is incredible. It amazes me. And I thought of how I rode the subway every day to and from work, but each time I rode, I felt like it took me farther and farther from home. This amazed me, too. And although I am often alone, I am amazed when I find myself alone in a given moment, living a life hundreds of miles from nothing, working in a big, complicated system of chaos, and starved.