Spring is a great reminder of what God does in life, or perhaps better said, what God does in death…he restores it to life. It is also a great reminder of our final hope…that what God once declared as “very good” (Gen. 1:31) he has committed himself to restore.

I am again reminded of the way Joseph Coleson concludes his chapter on “creation as missional paradigm” in the newly released book, Missio Dei; A Wesleyan Understanding (pg. 38-39).

We have but begun. God’s restoration of God’s good creation is integral to the gospel, the good news, partly because we are integral to the creation. Our existence as physical creatures teaches us how to encounter, interact, love, play, work – in short, to be the spiritual-physical beings God created us to be. The present earth is our nursery, playground, laboratory, apprenticeship, and schoolroom for what lies beyond. What that is, we cannot now begin to imagine, Paul tells us (1 Cor. 2:9), but it will not be completely other than the here and now. It will be a continuation, the continuation of the stalk of golden grain from the single seed fallen into the ground. It will be the continuation between the lips of a mother on her infant’s cheek, and the lips of lovers on their wedding night. In their places, both ar valid, valuable, delightful, holy. But the wedding night requires two mature persons, and maturity requires time, practice, experience, learning. Humans learn maturity by living in God’s good creation.

If our preaching and thinking defaults to “us being saved” as the primary focus of the Gospel, then we have trampled on the work of Christ.  We have lessened his goal of redeeming the whole world…to see it once again unimpaired and rehabilitated as the splendor of God’s creation.

It is not God’s goal for us to simply preach “be saved.” The fact that salvation can be experienced by us is an example of the incredible power and mission of God’s big picture of redemption, but it is not the primary goal.

Often we wear thin God’s energies with our constant plea for attention for ourselves. We pray, “God keep me from this, God, please deliver me from that…”. We beg for his attention and demand his efforts in our lives. But if we ever get in touch with the total reality of God’s redemptive mission, we would never bother God again with our personal complaints.

Like the Apostle Paul we would welcome the pains, heart-breaks, and disappointments because these things keep us reliant on the power of God.  These things point us too and remind us of the work there is yet to do in this world.

When God’s mission becomes a reality in our thinking, our calling is clear. We are called to join him in the big picture of redeeming the beauty and goodness of the created order. Our mission is to do more than focus on problems of individual sin and guilt as though God’s mission is primarily focused on “saving us” from being eternally punished for our individual sins. God’s mission is much larger than us…but thanks be to God that it includes us!

“Let us praise him that he hath given us to see the deplorable state of all that are round about us; to see the wickedness which overflows the earth, and yet not be borne away by the torrent! We see the general, the almost universal contagion; and yet it cannot approach to hurt us! . . . God will arise and maintain his own cause. And the whole creation shall then be delivered both from moral and natural corruption. Sin, and its consequence, pain, shall be no more; holiness and happiness will cover the earth. Then shall all the ends of the world see the salvation of our God. And the whole race of mankind shall know and love and serve God, and reign with him forever and ever!” -The Mystery of Iniquity, The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley.

- Some of these thoughts are paraphrased from Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest, pg 21, 23-24.

What future are you deciding right now? Are you choosing a future of life? Or death?

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face. Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

• I am now a Cavs fan…I am a witness. Which builds my current fan-ship to the Bengals, Cavs, and KU. I really don’t care about the rest…however, my boy Sam now loves the Royals (he calls them the Royal-tee’s).
• We are almost done with the ‘remodel’ of the office/teen area…paint is amazing.
• It’s been four weeks since we transitioned our Sunday morning schedule…I am loving the conversation time together and the involvement of tons of new people. We are continuing to pay attention and make adjustments as they are needed…
• I am becoming more convinced of the value of simple conversation…it’s in the opening of ourselves that we are changed…and the Spirit of God dwelling in us is given the chance to work. God often speaks audibly and it sounds a lot like the sound of your voice.
• I am nearing the one year mark of being a ”new” pastor…but I think I am going to hang on to the “new” title for a little longer. Occasionally it comes in handy.
• One thing I don’t want to hang on to any more is a certain house in Cincinnati…
• We have been working on two series for this summer that I am completely stoked about…the first one is just flat out amazing…I can’t wait for June 7th to get here. Here is a teaser for ya…”_____ happens”
• I have been learning a lot about myself and my leadership persona the last few weeks. If we listen in the midst of complements and criticism we can hear truth. Sometimes the truth hurts…but always the truth helps.
• One thing (of many) I was not prepared for in leadership was how to handle myself when others disappoint. I have determined to not grow hardened by the pain…instead to allow the bruises to be reminders of my own ability to disappoint.
• And one last thought…Cavs will sweep. 

One of the many places I paused and reflected on today were the words of Paul in 15:20-21.

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written:
   ”Those who were not told about him will see,
      and those who have not heard will understand.”

I guess if I were to summarize how I want to define my life this would be a great couple of verses. I want to live my life helping people see the truth of a Creator who became Savior…so that they may see, understand, and live as they were created to live.