This Changes Nothing

The last six years or so have felt kinda lost and wild if you know what I mean.  No religious form, not much prayer, not much bible reading, not much fellowship (a Christianese word that means hangin’ out together), definitely no church.

Yet something is stirring…

Dry ground is beginning to break open.  What I thought was a wasted span was actually a time when Grace was doing its thing; working through my failings, teaching me to serve those put in front of me, showing me that my profession and my vocation are not the same thing.

Today in our house we will read a passage from Jotham’s Journey - a kid’s book that is speaking to this child’s heart.  Funny, because as a child I didn’t know there was a pre-Christmas celebration called Advent (which simply means “arrival” or “coming”).  Now as an adult I am in full awe of the coming of Jesus into this world, into my heart and my life.

Jesus is a disrupter, His Spirit is present - preparing the way to invade your world.  Take some time as you celebrate with tree and lights, paper and bows, carols and candy to prepare your heart for his Advent.

Peace.

November 22, 1971 - Xenia, Ohio (the one and only), Greene County Memorial Hospital, youngest of five kids born to Sandra and Billy Ray Covington.

I don’t remember a single thing about that day…wouldn’t that be weird if I did?!  I do have much that I remember about the years between then and now.  Milestones such as the big 4-0 have a way of forcing reflection.  And I have to say, when I look in the rear view mirror I’m amazed;  not at a life that I have lived intentionally, rather at the Providential path that has brought me to this point.

That path is littered, no…landscaped, with touchstones - markers of Divine grace.  In retrospect, there were no clear signs, nothing that said “this is where you need to go and this is why”.  In fact, much of what is good in my life could be seen as the offspring of misfortune or bad choices on my part.  It’s this fact that has taught me that the bumper sticker that reads “Sh*t happens” should be followed up with the subtitle “It’s God’s fertilizer”.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of times where intentionality was met with the desired positive outcome.  Such as the birth of my boys; These guys, along with their mom, are my life - they’re everything to me.  But none of that happens if my mom doesn’t get divorced, twice.  It doesn’t happen (at least as far as I can tell) if I didn’t have an eye disease that kept me out of the military.  I’m not saying that God orchestrated my mom’s failed marriages, or made sure that my eyes kept me out of the military, just so I could marry Christina and raise two awesome little dudes, that’s absurd.  I am simply cognizant of the fact that there is ample evidence that good can, and does, come from bad - and in my estimation that is a result of God’s hand at work.

My question to you therefore, is how has God worked through your dark days?  Maybe you’re in the midst of such a season right now.  If so, I would simply encourage you to hold on to the fact that time will bring with it insight into God’s grace at work in and through you. 

I’m excited to be turning 40, I know there will be trials ahead, I can only pray that I won’t resist the growth that comes with them.

Life’s complexity reveals my inadequacy to understand God.

God’s sovereignty assures me of His ability to transcend my understanding.

Jesus’ humanity and suffering shows me the depth of God’s sufficiency for all of my inadequacies.