Just A Thought

Things are tough, and they are going to get tougher (my personal belief – not necessarily anointed prophecy). The church will likely be going through a metamorphous during this phase. The fat self serving caterpillar is going into a tight dark place to emerge as a butterfly, carrying no baggage and able to fly. We don’t want to miss out on the tight dark place if we can possibly help it.

There is a lot of talk about a coming renaissance period – a period of cataclysmic change in a similar order to when Martin Luther nailed the manifesto on the church door. I am guessing that in another 3-10 years maybe a bit longer - the church is going to grow into what we are only starting to dream about now.

Change can be terrifying, or terrifically exciting, depending on who is in charge, and one's attitude.

Imagine cascading down a really fast and boulder-ous rapid in a little canoe without first being able to scout the river for waterfalls, cliff faces, whirlpools, and any other equally hazardous obstacles. That is kind of like the picture I am seeing in our near future.

But if as you start your descent, you realize your tour guide is really good at watching over you, navigating you down the best routes, carefully selecting routes that maximizes your gained expertise without putting you in any situations that are out of your depth, then after a while you develop a sense of security. Each potentially disastrous stretch causes you joy and to prosper instead of suffering loss. Pretty soon you begin to relax and start to enjoy the ride knowing that your guide is not going to put you in a situation that you cannot handle – and the whole journey begins to take on a spirit of adventure and fun despite the potentially hazardous events happening all around you.

By the time you get to the really heart stopping frightening parts, you have gained a quiet confidence, knowing that your guide purposefully put you into this situation and will be able to see you through it, and besides – it should be a real hoot.

When somebody who is being swept along out of control sees that things are working for you, they are going to want in. The problem is though, that they never had the training in the quiet waters, they never learned the serenity of trusting in their master incrementally. They will be okay if they really manage to put their trust in God at that stage, but it might not be quite as easy as we naively first thought to just slot in at a later stage. Bottom line: –
- Today is the day of salvation.
- If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart.
- Rejoice in the day of calamity, because without the testing, there will be no butterfly
- With God, all things are possible
- God is the author and perfector of our faith