R.A.D.I.C.A.L. Thoughts
"We have spent enough time in the heart of darkness, now we are headed for the heart of light."
Marianne Williamson, Author
I just returned from the Lectureship at Pepperdine University. I'm sorry that I couldn't do the blog while I was there. For some reason, I could receive e-mails and messages, I just could not send anything out. Maybe it's because I'm a MAC person. Anyway, the blogs are back! The Lectureship was four days of spiritual feasting! This is a gathering of Christians from all over the world who come to share their vision and to be refreshed, inspired, instructed and uplifted. For one thing, if for nothing else the singing was phenomenal. Several thousands of people every night in the field house singing the songs and praises of God. Messages from Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. I wish each one of you had been there, Christian or not. The clear and constant message over those four days was unbridled hope and joy. Unashamed expressions of love and brotherhood. And the light of God everywhere. One of the things that struck me most was the fact that people from every walk of life, from every continent, from every background and country you could imagine all had a light to shine, a gift to share. And the truth of the matter is that most of the projects they had going, or most of the service they were sharing came out of pain. The seven foot tall John Gak from the Sudan who had been a child soldier and had watched his family killed, had started a school in Sudan ... a school for children in the morning, adult education in the afternoon, Bible study in the evening. There was the couple from Ghana who after surviving ethnic cleansing had created a home for orphans. There was the woman who had lost a child who was sharing what she had learned from that experience. There was the judge who sees hard, difficult, human cases every day who was sharing how to be God's presence in the middle of human pain. And then there was me who tried to explain that God will use even your divorce for your good and his glory. What struck me is that so much of the good in the world comes out of pain. People who have survived a struggle, but who are now shining like never before. It was a week of amazing grace all over the place. I wish every single one of you could have been there!
"For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts ... " (and he wants us to shine his light in the world!
Romans 4:5a (NIV)
