“O LORD, how manifold are your works!  In wisdom you have made them all–the earth is full of your creatures… you send forth your Spirit, and they are created–and so you renew the face of the earth.”

how beautiful.

i sat in the bagel shop near my church on sunday, gazing out the window while i journaled about my week.  the scene outside was a little orangier than normal, and i noticed shadows hiding behind trees for the first time since i started my pre-paseo del rey ritual.  i had a sinking suspicion Fall had all of a sudden rolled back into the neighborhood, conveniently forgetting to tell us.

apparently the sun noticed too, cause he started getting off work early and going home… oblivious to my vitamin d difficiencies and tendency towards “sad”ness.

at this point you may be internally chuckling, thinking to yourself “man, this poor soul doesn’t realize there is no such thing as fall in san diego.”  well… i hate to be the bearer of bad news.

actually, i should probably say mixed news.

mixed news because, even though i miss the rays and fall (and his friend winter) definitely show up hear in san diego, i have lived enough years now to realize that seasons bring with them a little something special, an opportunity to wonder at the natural rhythms with which we live life.

dont get me wrong, im not exactly excited for fall–but it is a chance to thank God for the growth of this past spring and summer, and to allow him to again prune and prepare me in ways that are necessary.

i am thankful for the house i have now settled into, for the church that i call home, the plants i have learned to love and take care of, my roommates, the many books i’ve read, the students who have become friends, for the new ways i understand the the christian life, and for the ability to sit in solitude now.

i still see the need to be pruned in my critical/cynical attitude, the part of my heart that leans away from service, the fear i have of people, my tendency to do things on my own instead of wait for God, my choice of control over love, and the ways i hide (still) behind a false self because reality can be too painful to expose to others.

but hey, i guess that’s why fall and winter can be such longs and dreary seasons… so much pruning to be done  : )

so… as i wake up this morning, rain falling on the national city street outside my house, i thank God for all he has done and what he will do.  i thank God for the natural progression of life and for chance to enter into a new season of pruning and shaping.

prune away.

am i nuts to think that out faith should actually impact others?

i just finished reading chapter 0 in brian mclaren’s generous othodoxy, the chapter in which he warns the reader that he is under the impression that orthodoxy (aka right thinking/beliefs) should in some way lead to orthopraxy (aka right living/action).

having been a christian for 7 years now, i am finally developing a clear view of the landscape–the Church has done an alright job of impressing upon us the need for personal transformation (as well it should), but our idea of faith in western christiandom has come to little more than moral living and political alignment.  this has bugged me for some time, but i haven’t been able to put a finger on it until now.

we have fooled ourselves and disavowed knowledge of the mission God has us on if  we think personal salvation is the point of this whole shabang.  intervarsity (the org i work for) puts the mission this way:

transform people

renew your surroundings

develop people who will change the world

and while no one would argue with the idea of those three points, do we really expect to live those out? i mean, what space do we have in our individualistic, self-focused, consumer christianity to live our the idea that we are supposed to be agents of renewal in the places we find ourselves?  this would take sacrifice, compassion, it would be messy, and we would struggle with our faith in new and fresh ways.

if every christian just took a look around, they would realize there are all sorts of people they interact with on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.  in fact, we would see that each of us has a sphere of influence that stretches further than we could believe.  people are watching us, waiting for us to do/say something, living in anticipation of how God might be viewed through our lives.

and yet we have our noses buried in the latest christian self-help book, wondering why we have very little sense that God is active in our lives.  please set down your latest version of wild at heart and start to live it.

its ok, just set it down. look around.  take a deep breath.  and talk to you co-worker, daughter, neighbor, or friend.

you have no idea what a big deal this is.