A friend of ours met an accident last week. Thankfully, she lived. Three weeks ago a young 20something year old girl crashed on the highway divider as she was driving home. Tragically, she died. Life is so fragile. Full of puzzles we cannot fully put together in our lifetime. And yet, we are confronted again and again, not just what do we think about miracles or tragedies, how shall we then live? Both incidents force us to pause at the "intersections" of our lives where God often is waiting to meet us.
The news last week has been splashed with stories or pictures of Cyclone hit Myanmar (or Burma) and earthquake shaken China. My Blogger friend also highlighted a personal tragedy where a Christian leader and his son died in a plane crash in the USA. There’s going to be many funerals this month. But even before one can fully mourn the death of many people, energy is still required to rescue the living no matter how weak their lives maybe flickering right now.
There has been calls for prayer, calls for raising funds, calls for aid, and so on …. there are still irrational obstacles and foolish walls we come against even in times like this. There are irresponsible actions lurking at the sidelines waiting to pound with an opportunist mindset. We are always kept on the "alert" at all times … it’s a matter of life and death. For the living, for us … we are faced with the question of whether the way we choose is the way of death and destruction, or the way of life and construction. The last time I heard the creed, it said .. "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life …". May we be conduits for that kind of life to flow in valleys of death today!
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We are very creative in hiding from God aren’t we? Perhaps it’s also shown in the way we hide from those who love us or keep us honest with ourselves. The sophistication of "hiding" may come in the form of rationalized explanations on why we are distant from the church, or apathetic with the concerns of society. The "hiding" involves our psycho or philosophical babble which becomes a wall to face the obstacles to our growth and flourishing. "Hiding" is a form of not facing the truth. Being truthful is an important component for reconciliation with God (surely), but also reconciliation within ourselves and others. In fact, I believe without truth-telling there is no real reconciliation. The next step is parallel to stop hiding from God (whom there’s no way to hide anyway!), is to stop lying to ourselves by trying even to "hide" from ourselves. The road to growth demands that we face ourselves truthfully. Thankfully, we don’t have to do it on our own (which is another fallacy in this subject), while there may not be many, there are those whom we can turn to who do not reject us, but firmly listen and walk with us. Usually, these are friends who have faced their own inner demons and know where draw strength to battle them.
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I came across a book entitled, "The New Conspirators: Creating the Future one Mustard Seed at a time" by Tom Sine. Here’s a description of the book …
God is doing something new through a new generation of innovators, risk takers and entrepreneurs. These new conspirators can be found in at least four streams:
emerging
missional
mosaic {multi-cultural}
monastic
Some are creating innovative missional expressions of church, some are creating sustainable communities that work with the poor. Others are using the arts to create imaginative forms of environmental advocacy. Still others are creating new ways to celebrate the in-breaking of God’s new order. These young conspirators are all imagining new ways, in these uncertain times, to give creative expression to that new world the Jesus told us is already here.These new conspirators are not only creating new models but they are also raising important questions about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, be the church and do mission that need to be discussed by the entire church.If you have faith as small as a mustard seed," Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, "nothing will be impossible for you." Tom Sine invites readers to join a new generation of conspirators and discover how God can more fully use our mustard seeds to be a difference and make a difference that reflects something of God’s kingdomWhy don’t you discover why there is such a buzz about The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time…and join the conspiracy???
There’s a few ingredients needed for making disciples in the way of Jesus …
1. The "Going" part … we simply cannot be trapped in our own club-like comfort zone mentality.
2. Of course, even as we "go", there needs to be a "place" – home where new disciples can "Grow", and there is an assumption that disciple-making is not a private enterprise, while personal (and even one to one), it’s connected to Jesus, his Kingdom and his "Body" on earth – the church.
3. It’s going to take "time" … it has it’s exciting moments … but most of the time, I think it’s ,long term perseverance, getting up again and again when we fall or when we fail.
4. It”s not just our "work" … I came across a beautiful phrase – "God’s Work, Our hands". Indeed, it’s the work of the Trinity – Father, Son and Spirit … through our hands. Now, that keeps things in perspective, and gives us the power from on high to "Go", to "Grow", to be "Patient" and "Persevere".
Thank God, Jesus never leaves us to our own devices, he is present to guide …
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These harmonics vibrated from May 15 – May 17, 2008