Subversive Christianity by Brian J. Walsh is one of those books I find myself returning to every now and then. I find it challenging and his thoughts cause me to stop and reflect on how I am seeking to live out my faith on a daily basis. Walsh writes from the perspective, and I agree, that as Christians we are called to “live out of a worldview or a vision of life that is different from the worldview that dominates western culture as a whole.” He points to the reality that much of western culture is in direct conflict with the ideas, values and goals of the Kingdom of God that Jesus talked so much about. When Jesus spoke and taught about the Kingdom of God it caused people to stop and think…it challenged their ideas of what was acceptable and what was right. My sense is that if Jesus were to move amongst us today he would do much the same thing as he spoke into our western culture, especially our religious institutions.
Archives for November 2014
Just One of Those Days
I had one of those 
days yesterday. The kind that just take your breath away and you are not sure if you have the strength to carry on. One of those days where by 9:30 you just want to go back to bed and pull the covers up over your head until the next day. The morning started out like any ordinary day and then things picked up speed and just never slowed down. I felt myself pulled in multiple directions at the same time. Nothing was getting my best, I felt I was simply “putting out fires.” Appointments that were supposed to last “a few minutes” suddenly took hours and caused what had been a very ordered day to feel very rushed and chaotic. There was some unexpected bad news which demanded I shift my focus away from my plans and agenda. As the day turned into evening I was finally able to slip away and return my focus to what had been on my agenda early in the morning. As I came toward my office I heard it…running water. Not the kind that you hear when a sink fawcet is left on…the kind that results from a bathroom being turned into a baptismal! So much for the plan to salvage a few moments of quiet from a chaotic day.
Have you ever had a day like this? One where nothing went the way you imagined it should and everywhere you turned there was chaos, disorder and disruption? When the evening turned to night and I was finally able to put an end to this day where chaos reigned I found myself to be glad that tomorrow would start anew and fresh. I was also glad that I had not gone through the day alone. I was glad that God had walked with me each and every step, that He had given me strength when I needed strength. Thankful that God had helped me hold my tongue when I may have wanted to share more of my thoughts than was necessary. Glad that even in the most tiresome moments of the day there were things to celebrate and bring joy if one had eyes to see. Humbled that as I did the “woe is me” thing while mopping up a bathroom floor I was reminded of my Savior who knelt to wash his disciples dirty feet while on his way to the cross. Surely if Jesus could endure the cross for me I could (with joy) mop up a flooded bathroom. As the chaos of the day slipped into the quiet of night I decided the day had not been that bad and that God had met me in the midst of it.
May God grant us the ability to see clearly how He is at work in our lives each day…the days that go as we plan and the days that have a mind of their own.
Pastor Dan
