Right....

Ian has introduced me to a statement. Actually, I am not sure if its a statement as much as a feeling. "This is right." That's our profound statement. Hey, if you know Ian and me very well, that's about as profound as we get. We throw that statement out rarely because it really is a pretty sacred statement. Do you have those moment when everything is gelling... everything is just coming together.... you are sitting in a beautiful moment... you didn't really see it coming.... it just happened... and you look at one another and say, 'this is right!' All is well with our soul... all is good.... all is from God, for God, and to God and 'wow' does it taste good. That's what it means when we say, "This is right." Okay, so it is a bit profound.

This weekend was 'right.' There was a sense of holy visitation. God felt free to be Himself and pull up a chair in our midst and sit down with us. We had so many chances to park and bow down to Him.... to worship... to remember why we exist... to love Him more deeply... and to come together as a group to do some things that we just cannot do alone. It was right! There were several moments in the service(s) that were just so electric, that I felt a bit like Isaiah... just undone. Not sure what to do with myself. Wanting to love God more deeply. Broken. Loving Him. Begging of Him to make me...to make us, as a movement called Emmanuel, incredibly useful instruments of His grace. It was right!

I am so thankful for this place. I am so thankful that we have staked our lives, our reputations, our hearts and our greatest passions to the cross of Jesus Christ. I am so amazed by His grace. I am so enamored with the fact that we have stepped into this wild, alive story called the Word of God.

The "Genesis" of this whole deal is that we are wild olive shoots (Rom 11.17). We are a people who have been grafted into the kingdom of God with the purpose of wrestling with God. As we wrestle we discover a whole new walk in life... a whole new world view.... a whole new journey found in Him alone. We find, as we wrestle, that we don't really need anything other than Him. We find enough in Christ. As we wrestle we find that we only want to share the 'more than enough' that we have found in Him.

Perhaps the most sacred thing that we, as His people, can do with His sacred text is to wrestle. Perhaps Mark 4.14 is about the logos.. the Word. Perhaps its about the Word coming alive in us. Perhaps its about us wrestling with the Word - the easy, the difficult, the challenging... the living, active, impassioned, untamed, beautiful word of God. May we be known as a people who wrestle with the Word. May we be known as a people who limp... who walk in a new way through this deal called life. May we live madly in love with Christ.

Hey, wild olive shoot, enjoy this week in the Word. Feel free to comment. Beyond that, live wildly!

For the Glory,

Mark