Boxed...

Pneuma. The Greek word literally means spirit or wind. The great sweeping wind that blows through your kitchen window on a spring day, scattering the mail and the kids’ school papers, while reducing your neatly ordered life to chaos. What a fitting metaphor for God’s presence.

The writer of the New Testament book of Acts seems to agree. He uses the word pneuma in chapter 2, verse 2 when he writes, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Think about that image for a moment. After Jesus ascended into heaven, his followers gathered together in the upper room of a building and prayed for direction. As they sat trying to determine how to carryout the ministry Jesus had begun, a wind blew through the house, reaching into every dusty corner of their lives.

On Sunday, Andy Rainey talked about how we like to compartmentalize our lives into nice, neat boxes. Work goes in one box, social life another, and God in still another. Whether we act like this because of fear, or a need to be in control, the result is the same. We stifle God. You can’t box the wind.

Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) Like the wind, the God who spoke the universe into being will not be relegated to a minor role in our lives. He wants to blow through the entirety of our existence, upsetting our neat piles and turning our thoughts towards him. But just as our God refuses to live in a box, he also refuses to force his way into our lives. The final decision resides with each of us.

Are you willing to open the window?

Feel the change...

What role does the Bible play in growing our faith?


So I had a friend of mine who was really struggling in a particular area of his life. He felt like for every step he took forward, he fell back another two. Even though he knew that what he was doing was wrong, he kept falling into the same old trap. One night he asked me, "Am I the only one who's ever felt like this?"

In answer I emailed this scripture from the book of Romans chapter 7 verses 18-19, "18 I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can't. 19 I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do."

In this particular passage, the Apostle Paul is wrestling with his sinful nature and he expresses a common frustration. Who hasn't sat back after a particularly bad decision and wondered why we knowingly embraced a choice that led to death? All of us have been there.

Now the point of this story isn't to excuse my friend's behavior. What he did was wrong, no two ways about it. But by reading
about the struggle Paul endured two thousand years ago, my friend was able to gain some perspective, dust himself off, and try again. Paul also ends his painful deliberations on a victorious note. In verses 24-25, Paul says, "24 What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? 25 I give thanks to God. He will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Often times we look at the writers of the Bible as superhuman beings whose every thought was whispered to them by God. But sometimes, in my darkest moments, I find comfort in the fact that the Bible is a collection of stories about people. People who sometimes succeeded in pleasing God and sometimes failed miserably. People who were just like me.

Pick up your Bible and read a couple of verses. You might be surprised at who you find staring back from the pages.


- Don

Pivotal Circumstance...

I knew it was coming, all the signs pointed to it and I had already looked at our budget and knew we would be OK for a little while, but as I was walking toward the meeting room I wondered if everything was really going to be OK. And as the words hung in the air I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing... "Due to the recent lack of sales company wide we are eliminating several of the Contractors and unfortunately you are one of them." I returned to my desk and quickly let my wife know that my days were numbered.

We can't always see our circumstances coming, but they often have the same affect. Whether it is a loss of a job, death of a friend, health problem, etc. the circumstances leave us dazed and disoriented for a moment before we realize we have a choice to make...

Do I trust God in-spite of what I am experiencing and feeling? Or do I start to question God's intentions and take matters into my own hands?

Well for me I found my prayer life elevate as I tried to seek God and see what He might be be doing... I wasn't at all happy about the situation I found myself in. I felt like that job was exactly where God wanted me to be for a season. Then I was relieved of my contract 5 months early and I found myself questioning the timing, but through it all I trusted and sought God.

My pivotal circumstance turned out to be one that altered the course of my life and now as I look back on it I wonder if I would be on this journey I now find myself in? I wonder if this is what it took for God to get me to leverage my life for His?

What circumstance are you facing?
Do you trust God in-spite of what you are feeling or do you find yourself questioning God's intentions?
Will you allow God to leverage your circumstance for His glory?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...


- Rainey