I don't know if I have words to write what I'm processing through right now. Right now I think all I've got is other peoples words. It's too much. It's still churning. God is still shaping. Often when we can't articulate something we think or believe it is because we have not truly thought through it but have instead adhered to someone else logic or decisions. I hope that is not the case with me. Because I believe that there are other times that things bubble below the surface for a long time, under the surface different authors collide and different world views are looked at and opposing view points are measured and former habits or behaviors are questioned. During that time there is no tidy conclusion, only process. Often during that time we have to borrow words until God shapes the words in our mouths.
God is teaching me so much about creativity. I grew up in a highly creative family. From every corner and facet of my family it oozed creative genius. While I didn't always feel that way about myself it is none the less true about my family as a whole. I am part of a church that highly values creativity. It's core to who we are and how we see God and how we function. And yet, it has only been recently that I have started learning more about this word "creative" as I've been reading different authors that challenge the creativity of the church in how we live out our faith. We have forgotten to be creative. The call of the Kingdom of God is to view life as an opportunity to creatively live out it's kingdom principles. Love. Peace. Beauty. Forgiveness. We've lost our creativity. And so I don't believe that turning the other cheek or loving my enemy actually works in the "real world". And so I think that if I give a bum a blanket I've shown him love like Jesus does. And so I think that if I fast once a year during Lent I've practiced the presence of God. And so if I don't cuss, don't look at porn, only listen to Christian music, and wear a cross around my neck I'm a good Christian. And so if I write a check to the church every month I'm being faithful with my money. And so and so and so and so...And so we've become unimaginative and uninspired. We've lost our creativity.
What did Jesus do? He made mud with spit and rubbed it in guys eyes. He told the sinless one to cast the first stone at the prostitute. He touched the lepers. He died.
As I'm writing this Jessica came up to me and told me something she had decided tonight. You see Jess has decided to stop working her Mary Kay Cosmetics business. She has been a fairly successful independent beauty consultant with them for about four years (as succesful as her health and children would allow) but with our commitment to go as chemical free as possible and with Jess turning into a hippie that wears little makup we decided carefully that it was time for her to move on from this (even though we still believe strongly that Mary Kay is an amazing company). With the ending of her business means that she needs to sell off all her stocked up product. So to get rid of it she was planning on selling it all for cost (half price) which would leave her with quite a few hundred dollars at her disposal. But as I'm writing this post she tells me that she's decided that instead of selling it all she's going to go down to the homeless shelter and let the women pick out makup that they normally wouldn't be able to afford. What a blessing for those women! What a great example of creativly showering those women in crisis with love. Three cheers for Jess! Hip hip Hur...awkward...
Back to the origin of this blog. God is doing something in me and I don't yet have the words to express it. His Kingdom is so much more than a destination when we die. And his kingdom is so much more than wearing a cross or not cussing. His kingdom is so much more than I ever imagined...and I think it's going to rock my world...and I hope that one day it rocks the Carter Park neighborhood here in downtown Vancouver.