Happy Reformation Day!

Today, I proposed to our church secretary that we should make the sign outside our church read "October 31: Reformation Day." I went out for lunch and when I came back it read exactly that. It was good to see it. Calling on people to re-think what this day (Oct. 31) is all about. Concerned Christians have come to our secretary and asked if it is a reference to Halloween and thought we should take it down. They also wondered if it is offensive.

Of course 9 out of 10 people have no idea that this is Reformation Day, or even what Reformation Day commemorates. And I have realized that most Christians sadly don't know either.

Wikipedia: Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated on October 31 in remembrance of the Reformation, particularly by Lutheran and some Reformed church communities. It is a civic holiday in Slovenia (since the Reformation contributed to its cultural development profoundly.

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Also, the theses were written in Latin, the language of the church, and not in the vernacular. Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. When Luther and his supporters were excommunicated in 1520, the Lutheran and Protestant tradition was born.

Within the Lutheran church, Reformation Day is considered a minor festival, and is officially referred to as The Festival of the Reformation. Until the 20th Century, most Lutheran churches celebrated Reformation Day on October 31st, regardless of which day of the week it occurred. Today, most Lutheran churches transfer the festival, so that it falls on the Sunday (called Reformation Sunday) on or before October 31st.

Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is our God" is traditionally sung on this day. It is also traditional in some Lutheran schools for schoolchildren to hold Reformation Day plays or pageants that re-enact scenes from the life of Martin Luther.

We love to boast the protestant gospel: Faith Alone, Scripture Alone - but we don't even know who helped us get there. If we did know, we wouldn't have so many Christians wondering: "What is Reformation Day?" It is the day that commemorates the work of Calvin and Luther (and others)... while specificaly focusing in on Martin Luther

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk, theologian, and church reformer. He is also considered to be the founder of Protestantism. In the 16th century Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by emphasizing the Bible as the sole source of religious authority and all baptized Christians as a general priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was attainable only by faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith unmediated by the church. These ideas helped to inspire the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.

It is interesting that Baptist Christians don't know about this. Are we that poor at explaining church history? The fact that the sign has created controversy is great! It might get people talking - maybe even re-thinking what this day - now dedicated to pagan religion - should really be about: Jesus and his challenge of religious elitism and empire.

Destroy the Christian Subclture? (Guest Blogger: Keith Giles)

Keith Giles is a writer, missionary, pastor, teacher, and house church leader in Orange, California. He also publishes a FREE, weekly e-newsletter called [Subversive Underground].

I've come to the conclusion that the Christian Subculture is evil. I want to destroy it. I want to choke the life out of it.

In the past I've written articles that express the dangers of the Christian Subculture, and it's no secret that I cannot stand Christian Radio, and have zero tolerance for "Jesus Junk" such as sanctified breath mints or t-shirts that christianize popular logos and advertising (see "Bud Wise Up" or "Lord's Gymn" for example).

The Christian Subculture prevents the breaking in of the Kingdom. It inhibits the Gospel message. It paralyzes the followers of Christ by isolating them from the people they are supposed to love and interact with on a deeply intimate level.

About a week ago I realized that my passion for deconstructing the popular "Churchianity System" extended beyond mere dislike. As I began to fully understand how insidious it really is, I resolved to dedicate myself to its demise. I am now fully convinced that someway, somehow, the entire thing needs to be knocked down with a very large hammer and burned into oblivion.

As part of the upcoming "Non-Con" in March of next year, I had planned to have a "Burn Our Christian Crap" session where attendees could bring the symbols of their involvement with the Christian Consumerist Monster and we could all stand around and sing "Kumbaya" together while we tosssed our "Lord's Gymn" tees and "Carman" Cd's and other idols to materialistic spiritualilty into a giant bonfire, in homage to those horrible youth group parties where teens were forced to burn their Van Halen records and Rush albums (because they were "secular").

I've come to the radical conclusion that there is nothing secular. There is only the world we live in. This one, right here (look around you...yeah, that world), and nothing more. God created the entire world, and it's a fallen world I agree, but there is no "Sacred" or "Secular" division to this world, other than the artificially constructed one we've created to keep ourselves safe and comfortable and far away from "those evil sinners over there".

Another big revelation for you? We're all sinners. You. Me. That guy over there. Yeah, we're all evil. We all need Jesus. Not just those who don't attend your church or who vote Democrat or who read Harry Potter. All of us. Look it up, it's in the Bible.

So, at the moment, all I have is the fire in my gut, the passionate resolution in my belly, that I hate all things "Christianese" and I long to assist in the complete demolition of this man-made evil.

Now, to be honest I have no real idea what that actually works out to in the real world. Let me be clear; I am not advocating the wanton destruction of Christian bookstores; I am not organizing petitions to shut down Christian Television (although I'd probably sign a petition if someone sent me one); I'm not calling for people to light torches or assemble in protest...but maybe it would be good idea if we just simply tried to escape the pseudo-reality of Christian Subculture? Maybe we could just start living in the real world, as followers of Jesus, without seeing those imaginary boundary lines between "Us" and "Them"? Maybe we could talk to people and befriend them, and love them, regardless of whether or not they were Christians? Maybe we could stop seeking comfort and shelter within the invisible walls of our own safety zones and start realizing that we live in this world, the real world...the only world, and begin living as Salt and Light to those around us?

Jesus prayed for us, those who would follow after Him, in this way: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."(John 17:15) It was never God's intention to take us out of the world we live in. Why have we decided that it's ok to take ourselves out of the world?

Paul the Apostle also agreed on this point when he wrote, "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world." (1 Cor 5:9-10)

Have we left this world for some virtual, "Clean World" where everything is Christian? Do we have to get our Christian Milk from a Christian Cow? Do we have to freshen our breath with Christian Mints? Do we have to drink Christian Soda and bowl at a Christian Bowling Alley?

This idea of withdrawl from the culture is evil. It is not God's plan for us. It is the fruit of our own sinful, selfish desires to be safe and comfortable, and in some cases to make money and perpetuate an industry. It is demonic, and it hinders the Gospel message by isolating the agents of change (you and I) from those who need "the hope that lies within", and I want nothing more than to see it die a horrible, agonizing death so that God's people can begin to learn what it means to be human and start relating to other human beings who are sinful and hopeless without Christ, just like everyone else.

The Christian Subculture is essentially a wall that we build to keep ourselves from the world. Like the Berlin Wall, or the Great Wall of China, or Hadrian's Wall, or the wall between Palestine and Israel, it is an artificial border designed by us, the supposed followers of Jesus, in order to isolate us from the ones we are commanded to love.

Jesus would want us to smash down that wall. It's the same wall built by the money changers in the Temple at Jerusalem which kept the common people from entering the house of God. Those systems were also man-made. Those systems also invovled making a buck on the sale of faith and the commercialization of God's name.

I'm not sure where to find the hammer big enough to knock down this wall we've built, but I long to find one, and when I do I will let it swing.

What do you think?

The Courage to Live a Life that Demands Explanation (Brian Russell)

I had the opportunity to participate in a four day spiritual retreat that ended this past Sunday evening. I spent much of the time in prayer and reflection. As I listened to speakers, prayed, and read Scripture, one word kept resonating in my being: Courage.

Courage is the key that unlocks the door to the life of God’s dreams. Do you believe this? C. S. Lewis, the 20th century writer and follower of Jesus, once wrote of courage:Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point.

Why do I write and talk about courage so much? It’s simple. We live in a moment in history in which I believe that God is looking for women and men who desire to live for something greater than their own wants, desires, and circumstances. The Western world is at a crossroads. Our world is growing increasingly violent. People are scared. People are hungry. People are desperate. As my friend Alex McManus says, “The Western world has lost its faith in the shadows of church steeples.” How can this be? Where is the Church? Where are Jesus’ followers? Too often we find ourselves scared. The great temptation for us is to turn inward, hunker down, celebrate our own traditions, and pray for God’s blessing and protection on our own lives rather than allowing God to unleash us to live lives of purpose and significance in authentic community.

God has created each one of us for so much more. Most of us have barely scratched the surface of the life that God wants us to live. We have grown used to broken relationships, cruelty, pain, unhappiness, and the nagging feeling that life is slipping us by. We settle for mediocrity. Friends, don’t give up yet. We are to live lives that demand explanation.

JESUS CHRIST WANTS TO REWRITE EACH OF OUR LIVES INTO A GRAND EPIC OF REPENTANCE, RENEWAL, AND RESTORATION. This is the subject matter of our current series in worship: The Courage to Live.
This story begins in an encounter with God in the shadow of Jesus’ cross. On the cross, Jesus gave his life so that we may find true life. In the shadow of the cross, Jesus invites us to bring all of our brokenness, our hurts, our shame, our fears, our guilt—everything.

This takes courage, but when we come to the cross, God takes each of us and does something extraordinary. He adds us to the masterpiece that he is creating through the lives of those who come to the cross and become followers of Jesus, the crucified one. Following Jesus takes courage. It takes courage to receive God’s love and grace. It takes courage to admit to our need for change—for realigning our lives in light of God’s mission to bring hope, wholeness, and restoration to our world. It takes courage to surrender to the way of the cross by turning from a life centered on self to a life centered on serving God and others. It takes courage to follow Jesus into the world.

My own community of faith seeks to exist as an outpost of hope for the world. Our mission is to ignite humanity one dreamer at a time. I count it a privilege to worship and serve together with my friends and partners at Awaken Orlando as God shapes each of us into a person of God’s dreams so that we can live by faith, be known by love, and be a voice of hope in a world that is desperate for those things that only God can give. I am excited about how God is moving in our midst.

The New Atheism

The End of Faith provides a harrowing glimpse of mankind’s willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when these beliefs inspire the worst of human atrocities. Harris argues that in the presence of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer expect to survive our religious differences indefinitely. Most controversially, he maintains that “moderation” in religion poses considerable dangers of its own: as the accommodation we have made to religious faith in our society now blinds us to the role that faith plays in perpetuating human conflict. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism in an attempt to provide a truly modern foundation for our ethics and our search for spiritual experience.


In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He presents the supreme improbability of a supreme being.

This new movement of atheism has been styled "The New Atheism" and Harris and Dawkins are likely its two most popular names. It is an interesting movement, involved in aggressive movement, with the style of evangelism--a real desire to win "converts" to this non-religious religion. I have read the God Delusion and am ordering The End of Faith. I think it is important for Christ-followers to read and have dialogue with such wordviews, so that they do not insulate themselves from the cultural discourse.

To listen to the response of such atheism from an informed Christian worldview listen to Alister McGrath's direct response to Dawkins' book here:

http://www.citychurchsf.org/openforum/Audio/OF_Alister_McGrath.mp3

Re-Imagining Congregational Ministry

What shape will congregational ministry become in the future? George Hunsberger, professor of missiology at Western Theological Seminary and coordinator of The Gospel and Our Culture Network, and others worked on this question and presented some of their ideas at a conference a short time ago. He shared the Network's focus on strategies necessary for the recovery of the church's missional identity.

1. The church now lives in a post-Christian era. Congregations and clergy no longer enjoy the social position which formerly gave them prominence in North America. For example, churches no longer have influence regarding the scheduling of events by community organizations. Our congregations now live in a vast mission field where many are apathetic regarding the gospel.

2. Congregations will recover a missional character. They will become what David Bosch describes as "a body of people sent on a mission." Hunsberger noted two foci. First, congregations will recover their missional identity in a culture which draws people away from, rather than pushing them toward, churches. Second, congregations will become missionally engaged in their context with members involved in mission and ministry they perceive is faithful and having value and worth.

3. Congregations will come to terms with a pluralist society. The church will come to realize it must learn how to minister as a minority in a society composed of many colors, of Asian, African, and Hispanic heritage (as well as European), and of many ethical values. In addition to atheists, Christians will live next door to Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, who affirm different ultimate principles.

4. While living in a consumer culture, a missional congregation will move beyond consumerism. Church growth advocates have urged congregations to attract people by offering better and larger programs, thereby strengthening the perception of churches as vendors of religious goods and services and occasionally pitting church against church. In moving beyond consumerism, currently dominant images will shift--in worship from a passive/entertained audience to worship participation (including roles in developing worship content), and in administration from policy committees to an emphasis on ministry teams.

5. A missional congregation will cultivate the future. It will transform congregational life by emphasizing ministry which corresponds to a vision for the future shaped by exile not exodus. An exodus paradigm conjures a crusader conquering the land (North America). An exile paradigm conjures life in the midst of an alien culture but still singing the Lord's song.

A great deal of work lies ahead. The next task is to develop strategies to work with congregations in re-forming ministry; while we focus on always being reformed by the word of God.

The Compassion Movement

UPDATE: On Sunday October 14 we raised more than our goal of $150.00 and have money in The Compassion Movement fund to start seeking out our next project! God is good. Thanks to all of those who helped. (Visit "The Compassion Movement" Website-see Resources on right)

"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
--John Lennon

God calls us to help those who need it. If there is one thing that is certain it is that God lives, in a special way, with the poor and broken this world. Jesus said that when we help people our actions are really serving him. "I tell you the truth: whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine [the sick, hungry, lonely and imprisoned] you did for me" (Mat. 25.40).

For a long time I have struggled with God, like Jacob. My struggle has revolved around what to do with the above command of Jesus. My heart is sensitive to the needs of the world and I believe the church is called to be missional in everything it does. But beyond this theoretical level what am I to do? What is God calling me to do? In my context?

Something happened recently that helped shape that heart a little further: a friend went to work with poor people in Nicaragua. She sent me an email with a need to be met. A man named Carmelo Silva has a daughter who needs a wheelchair (see picture above). She presently is sitting strapped to a plastic chair. They need is $150.00 to buy fully-working wheelchair. Could we, the church community, help?

While reading about this need a flood of inspiration came over me: this need is so small and tangible. The need could be met by the DSF community (our evening church service). Meeting this very small need would then create momentum. The sick helped in the name of Jesus for the glory of God. This is more than just a "one-off" though. There are hundreds of these needs, thousands, millions!

What causes people to stall when trying to help the world is the enormity of the task. The scope of needs is so big it becomes too much for the heart to contain, thus we become hard because we feel guilty, which ultimately leads to indifference and inaction. So, then: what if the scope of the project is smaller and more tangible? Then the work is do-able. One small need at a time. Indeed; this is more than just a "one-off". This is a movement. A movement of compassion.

Thus was born in my heart: The Compassion Movement: identifying and responding to global and local needs. Born out of a desire to follow the way of Jesus: helping the poor, sick, lonely, naked and imprisoned to both physical and spiritual restoration for the glory of God.

There is alot that needs to happen from this stage. Right now it is an idea. But, I believe a good one, and one infused with God. The parable I am taking as a guide is that of the mustard seed. "Jesus said, 'What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.'" (Mark 4.30-32)

1. The movement is, of course, starting small, like the kingdom of God (right now it exists only in my mind and on the page of this blog) but it will catch on. It will grow. I believe it exists in the hearts of many around me, some of whom know it and some who don't know it yet, but they will.

2. The small size of the seed is crucial in another way: The small seed has become the foundational metaphor for the entire vision. I know this sounds backwards but I think the following is the whole point: we will resist the temptation to "think big". We will force ourselves to think small-- tangible goals that can be met with the resources at our immediate disposal.

In his book "Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community" Wendell Berry says that to address global problems one must first work with local ones. And though for sure not all global issues are represented in all local societies, local communities are a microcosm of the macroscosm that is the global community. The idea here is that smaller changes taken together create larger changes by default.

My friend Jeremy always speaks about the power of grassroots movements. He holds the power of the community in very high regard, saying that many great changes in society have come from these non-official revolutions such as Civil Rights. Small voices slowly becoming more prominent. when small victories are won and more voices join the choir. Small changes creating great waves. That is all it takes and that is all The Compassion Movement will try to do.

Small changes. Precise. Tangible. Mustard seed. A girl in a wheelchair. Such is why we exist.

Is Theology Sinful? Yes! (and no)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3.1)

"God is treated as a third person. God is not party to the discussion but is the involved object. This is not speech to God or with God but about God. God has been objectified. The serpent is the first in the Bible to seem knowing and critical about God and to practice theology in the place of obedience."
--Walter Brueggemann, Genesis

This insight by Brueggemann is profound. As someone who loves theology, who loves reading and speaking about God, this ideas is very challenging: an imbalance of talk about God and not directly to God is following the way of the serprent in the garden.

I have a friend who used to invite me over to his house and we used to sit in the backyard pontificating about the smallest theological details. He used to say we were "talking shop". He meant this as a good thing: most people talk about their work or common interests (sports, movies, etc.) that is what we were doing. As I reflect on this idea now, I wonder if I wouldn't say that we spent too much time talking about God and not enought time (if ever!) talking to God together.

Practicing theology instead of obedience can be deadly. It gives the impression that you are "doing God's work". It lulls us into a false sense of security and purpose. I think there was a group of bible scholars who did this in Jesus time wasn't there? I forget: did Jesus like them?

I think it applies to many areas of life. Do we spend more time criticizing people who actually work to bring about change in the world than actually trying to bring about change ourselves?

Recently some friends and I watched a sermon preached by Rick Warren (of "Purpose-Driven Life" fame). After he spoke about the foundation he had started to help AIDS victims in Africa that raised millions of dollars, someone I was watching it with said: "I didn't like his shirt." This is a recapitulation of Irael's sins who rejected the voice of the prophets who came with a message of repentence from such mislaced ideals.

I feel this aching in my bones to help do something for the world, for the poor, for the sick, like Jesus would. Like Jesus commands (Matthew 25). But what do I do?

Ideas...theology...philosophy...art...programs...books...blogs...websites...if it doesn't end in life change and outward work to change the world...it is all garbage, rubbish--pointless and useless. To know that God made human kind in his image is one thing. To refuse to ever hurt anyone because they are made in his image (Genesis 9.6) is a whole other story. But it must go there. The one must result in the other. The Bible does not give us options.

It can never end at "I believe...". I believe must always result in "thus I am" and "thus I live this way". Theology must work itself out in practice. Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy. The former without the latter is lame. The latter without the former is blind (to borrow from Einstein).

So, is theology sinful? Yes, when it replaces obedience to God himself in practice and ends with just the trading of ideas.

Walter Brueggemann's 19 Theses

One of the most influential Old Testament scholars still alive today is Walter Brueggemann (former OT professor at Columbia Theological Seminary). He is a prolific writer with profound ideas in relation to human beings living in subversion of and alternative to the lies of the Empires that we live in. His book The Prophetic Imagination is the best book I have read on the OT prophets (see my March 2007 Blogs about the "Posture of a Prophet"). His most recent book, Mandate to Make a Difference is a collection of essays/sermons and the last one "Some Theses on the Bible in the Church" is interesting. I'll just quote Brueggemann's theses:

1. Everybody has a script.
2. We are scripted by the process of nurture, formation, and socialization that may go under the large rubric of liturgy.
3. The dominant scripting of both selves and communities in our society, for both liberals and conservatives, is the script of therapeutic, technological, consumer militarism that permeates every dimension of our common life.
4. That script promises to make us safe and happy.
5. That script has failed.

6. Health depends, for society and for members of it, on disengagement from and relinquishment of that script.
7. It is the task of the church and its ministry to de-script from that powerful script.
8. That task is undertaken through the steady, patient, intentional articulation of an alternative script that we testify will indeed make us safe and joyous.
9. That alternative script as an offer of a counter-metanarrative is rooted in the Bible and enacted through the tradition of the church.
10. That alternative script has as its defining factor the Key Character in all holiness, the God of the Bible who is variously Lord and Savior of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth, and is fleshed in Jesus, we name as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

11. That script of this God of power and life is not monolithic, one-dimensional, or seamless, and we should not pretend that we have such an easy case to make.
12. The ragged disjunctive quality of the counter-script to which we testify cannot be smoothed out and made seamless, as both historical-critical study and doctoral reductionism have tried to do.
13. The ragged disputatious character of the counter-script to which we testify is so disputed and polyvalent that its adherents are always tempted to quarrel among themselves.
14. The entry point into the counter-script is baptism.
15. The nurture, formation and socialization into the counter-script with this elusive, irascible Key Character at its center constitute the work of ministry.

16. Ministry is conducted in the awareness that most of us are deeply ambiguous about this alternative script. 17. The good news, I judge, is that our ambivalence as we stand between scripts is precisely the primal venue for the work of God's spirit.
18. Ministry, and the mission beyond ministry, is to manage that inescapable ambivalence that is the human predicament in faithful, generative ways.
19. IF what I have said is true, then it follows that the work of ministry is crucial, pivotal, and indispensable; as in every society, so in our society.

What do you think?

Warning: Be Careful What You Pray For

I was reflecting on something about God this week. How he loves us, answers prayer, guides us along our lives, providing at every moment. My friend Jeremy is the best songwriter I know. In one of the worship songs he wrote (Come and Rest; see the DSF myspace link to the right-- go and listen to the song! as well as the other three that are on there...), he writes these words: "Oh God we pray be faithful, Oh God we pray be Gentle." I love this line; because it recognizes the truth of the old adage: be careful what you pray for. How often we pray that God would do something without an eye on how God might decide to do that. But people who often pray, and see God answer know what asking God to be gentle is all about. "Do you really want God to do that?Even if it meant that this needs to happen and then that and then that!"

What if in order for God to be faithful he needs to scold us, test us, put us through the fire in order to refine us. What then? That is why I think the song finds it necessary to ask God to be gentle when he is being faithful: because the writer (and singer) is knows that there are times when in order for God to be God he must be strong-armed and "rough"-- he must be allowed to be God. That is why we trust him.

I am reminded of the famous conversation in C.S. Lewis' classic "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe": One of the children asks Mr. and Mrs. Beaver about Aslan the Lion, who is a figure of Jesus: "Is Aslan quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver. "If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or just plain silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Mark Buchanan wrote a book called "Your God is Too Safe"-- I haven't read it but I like the title. God isn't safe. He causes us to be the most radical people we can possibly be! Revolutionaries until the very end. We rebel against what the world, the flesh and the devil tempt us with (Ephesians 2.1-3)-- usually it all revolves around the same stuff-- self-centeredness. Martin Luther defined sin by the latin phrase "homo incurvatus", 'mankind turned in on itself'-- amkes sense. Do we have the guts to pray that God works his amazing power even if it might cause inconvenience or a change of plans for us?

Four years ago I was comfortable. I had alot of great friends, close to my family, loved working under my mentor as I studied Scripture-- and then I followed where the Lord was leading Erin and I and it became uncomfortable: it caused us to move across the country where we did not know a soul. Not one living breathing human being! "God, why do you have to be so harsh? Can't there be a good school in Ontario where you want me to go?" But, of course, God decided to be faithful instead of gentle. In retropsect God was doing much more in our lives than simply bringing me out here to go to school. He had bigger plans for us here and we are just beginning the amazing journey He is taking us on.

God, be faithful, but (please) be gentle. Sometimes he listens to the latter request, but sometimes, when necessary, he ignores the request for gentlessness, in order to accomplish the first part of the prayer. And thank God he does because if it were up to me life would never be uncomfortable, and as Malcolm Muggeridge once said, life without discomfort would ultimately mean life too meaningless to be worth waking up for.