Eternity

Today, in the midst of ongoing discussions, theology and the words we choose to acknowledge truth, we ended up for that breif moment talking about the life to come, and our reactions to what we imagined it would be like when we arrived on the other side of this life and met God face to face.

I've always imagined that the initial awe  would automatically leave me on my knees, face down before my creator, but then the thrill as the most amazing being in existence lifted my head, looked at me and called me His beloved, for no other reason that he who spoke all things into being choose to define me as such, to die for my sin and graciously cover me with his very own perfection.  To be in that place where finally every tear would be wiped away, every hurt healed, my true, sinless identity renewed in me, and I would be as He always intended me to be. A breathtaking thought. 

We who Christ has called his own have a blessed future,

 it is good,

very good,

exceedingly good

to rejoice in Christ our amazing Savior.

When Faith sits on a knife edge

Some days seem like that. The cold reality of the everyday seems like a mess of contradictions to the hope and the promise of the Spirit.

Today has been one of those. Where every step taken is either a step of faith or a step without God. 

Walking with him, a Statement  of Faith for church grew and blossomed.

Stepping out without him, confusion, cowardice and defeat reigned.

I didn't create the elements of space apart from God, and yet the refrain "Against you and you alone have I sinned and done what was evil in your sight." kept repeating itself.

I can think of a few possibilities, but maybe the refrain is the failure to hold fast to faith in the face of the worlds definitions.  To not simply take the easy way out. With God all things are possible. With God we have the option of seeing him do for more than we can ever imagine in his relentless pursuit of extending his kingdom.  CS Lewis would claim that "He is not a tame Lion but he is Good." in his description of Aslan, his allegory for God in Narnia. 

When all the world has to offer is doubt I choose faith, even in the face of faithlessness.  Forgive my doubt Lord and grow my faith.  Even if it is only in the smallest of things I choose to look for your fingerprints in tomorrow.

And thank you for the oppourtunity to reground in you regardless of the outcome of tomorrow.

Fresh beginnings

Its a long time since I have been tempted to write a blog post, in part because life for the past year has been one of change and transition, but several months ago, in an exercise to find a purpose statement for our church these words came together, and well somehow it seems like they deserve to live.

In a world where too often our faith is shaped by our culture, our understanding of God by our concrete attachment to what we can see and hear and touch, it seems like we are missing something of the amazing reality of the person who shaped us, loved us, redeemed us and called us to join him in his work of reclaiming HIS world.

In the last few months HE has threatened to turn that concreteness upside down. Its taken me a while to want to take the plunge, and yet the call to live by grace, to follow and to trust is s Calvin would state it - irresistible.