transformation

"Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, in my life, as it is in heaven."

Wouldn't it be a relief to respond to God’s will as joyfully and immediately as the angels in heaven? Too often, by the time I think to rely on his Spirit, everything is already in flames.

How long, Oh Lord, before my natural response, the words that come tripping off my tongue, the subtleties of my body language, the surface tension of my emotional tidal pool, will be quite naturally those of Jesus?

Yesterday, about fifty members of my church stood around a pool in the rain. It was baptism day. As a handful of new believers entered and exited the pool, I thought about the change each had gone through in such a short time. Joy, peace, freedom, love, grace. Cleaned up lives, healed relationships, new habits. These people have been transformed radically by their encounter with God.

Last week I was privileged to attend the annual Exodus Conference along with a thousand people coming out of homosexuality, as well as some family members and people like myself who minister to them. Nothing has built my faith in the power and the loving heart of our life-changing God like my decade-long involvement in this kind of ministry.

Jonathan Safran Foer, a Jewish New Yorker in his twenties, collected memories of his family—photos, cards, false teeth, handfuls of dirt—all sealed in individual plastic bags and mounted on a wall. Eager to know more about his family roots after the death of his grandparents, Jonathan embarks on an elusive quest to Ukraine, specifically to explore what happened to them during World War II.

At the beginning of each New Year Americans make New's Years resolutions pledging to change their ways.  Each March most of these resolutions have gone by the wayside and are no where to be seen until the beginning of the next new year comes around. 
I am by no means a keeper of resolutions and I, as many people do, want to improve their lives, change their ways and better the world around them.  All of this is up to me.  It starts with my discernment of what needs to change, my ability to put a plan into action and my discipline to stick to it.

About a decade ago, the catchword became relevance. "But is the ministry relevant?" we all asked. It was--and is--a good question. After all, Jesus became man in order to be relevant. The man knew his communication theory.

Though the term's not as in fashion anymore, the way we act and think betrays our commitment to relevance, especially in science and art (I use the term here broadly). The problem is, when we stop here, we get caught up in trends and fads. As Christians, we are relevant, but we should be beyond relevant.