Being taken from loneliness into community
The main problem is sin. And we do not know it. That is what is troubling. We forget that there is a breach in between the divine and the human. We live in it, without knowing it. For instance, I can come to Panera Bread every Sunday and act as if there is nothing wrong in the world—simply because everything in here is so prim, proper, and delightful. It is clean. It is well lit. It has music for crying out loud. Today is the Sabath. It is Sunday. It is a time of rest. This place is a place for me to rest. Writing, for me, is restful. It helps me get things off my chest. I feel like the Lord has given me a time of extended REST for my life, right now.
I am staying at home with children for a season. This is a joy. This is also the hardest thing I have ever done. But now that I am not a youth minister, I do not have to plan a large evening of ministry. I do not have to minister to 100 kids ever y Sunday. I do not have to pray. I do not have to bear the burdens of a large group. When I was their pastor, I bore their burdens. Now—I can rest. I love resting. I need it. Thank you Lord for this time of rest.
So often I want to leave this country to live in poverty somewhere—not poverty, but community. I would miss my family though-so much. I really want Anna and me to be troubadours, belting out the song of Jesus where we go. I think writing, for me, is a way for me to sing how God has changed my life. I think of how much Jesus has changed me. He has brought me from the pit of hell into the living water of His kingdom, presence, and joy. Christ has single handedly brought me from loneliness to community—first in Baptism, then in school at Duke, and then in marriage to Anna, and finally with kids. Anna and Josie and Silas. Amazing. Wow. Loneliness is bad. I was there. I was out of my mind—in the hospital, but even before the hospital, I think I was lonely. I was lonely because I had never let my REAL guard down. I had never admitted that I did not know God, nor did I know myself. Look at what God has done. Look at the palace he is creating within me. I think God really does re-create us into his image. He restores the breach. There was a breach. I could not even count the ways. I think my recent interest in ministry to Muslims has been a realization of the gift of my relationship with Christ—and a deepening trust in His providence, in his goodness, and in his trustworthiness. God is amazing. God is perfect, beautiful, and perfect. The God of Jesus Christ is like no other. No other God runs to me, comes out to me and says, “I count not your sin against you, but, instead I bore your sin on my body, so that you might live.”
There is none other.
I am staying at home with children for a season. This is a joy. This is also the hardest thing I have ever done. But now that I am not a youth minister, I do not have to plan a large evening of ministry. I do not have to minister to 100 kids ever y Sunday. I do not have to pray. I do not have to bear the burdens of a large group. When I was their pastor, I bore their burdens. Now—I can rest. I love resting. I need it. Thank you Lord for this time of rest.
So often I want to leave this country to live in poverty somewhere—not poverty, but community. I would miss my family though-so much. I really want Anna and me to be troubadours, belting out the song of Jesus where we go. I think writing, for me, is a way for me to sing how God has changed my life. I think of how much Jesus has changed me. He has brought me from the pit of hell into the living water of His kingdom, presence, and joy. Christ has single handedly brought me from loneliness to community—first in Baptism, then in school at Duke, and then in marriage to Anna, and finally with kids. Anna and Josie and Silas. Amazing. Wow. Loneliness is bad. I was there. I was out of my mind—in the hospital, but even before the hospital, I think I was lonely. I was lonely because I had never let my REAL guard down. I had never admitted that I did not know God, nor did I know myself. Look at what God has done. Look at the palace he is creating within me. I think God really does re-create us into his image. He restores the breach. There was a breach. I could not even count the ways. I think my recent interest in ministry to Muslims has been a realization of the gift of my relationship with Christ—and a deepening trust in His providence, in his goodness, and in his trustworthiness. God is amazing. God is perfect, beautiful, and perfect. The God of Jesus Christ is like no other. No other God runs to me, comes out to me and says, “I count not your sin against you, but, instead I bore your sin on my body, so that you might live.”
There is none other.
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