Preparation Pain and Power!
What do a chain saw and a tree log have to do with worship?
This past Sunday at Encounter we saw the wood carver take a four foot long section of tree trunk and shape it into a bear holding a fish.
At first glance it looked like nothing more than a huge mess and distraction. The wood chips were flying and the saw dust was everywhere, but over time the image began to take shape.
So often all we see and feel is the painful gnawing of the saw and fail to realize that we too are being shaped by life’s circumstances.
How about you? What is cutting into the “normal” of your life? What distractions seem to be creeping in to make a mess of your task list and agenda?
I invite you to join me in rereading Saul/Paul’s dramatic story of conversion…Acts 22:1-16.
He had an agenda that was dramatically altered in this story. Maybe just maybe the pains and hurts we are enduring might even help shape us into better vessels for reaching the world for Christ.
One never fully appreciates the sunrise unless they have endured the long night of the soul. One best appreciates health if they have been sick and one never knows the peaceful power of hope unless they have dealt with the desperation of despair.
Perhaps the turbulent world we are living in with job losses, home foreclosures and broken dreams is the perfect place for Christians to share the reconciling message of hope that Christ offers. It reminds me that the best place to see the brilliance of night stars is in the dark blanket of the countryside.
Paul’s first countryside was Damascus…where’s yours?
Vaughn
