be strong

Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged,

for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go!

Joshua 1:9

My pastor pointed out - God says BE strong and courageous - not FEEL strong... sometimes we may not feel very strong or courageous - but that's ok. We are called to BE strong - in His strength- and to step forward into what He is calling us.

this week i haven't felt all that strong. I realized the close proximity to violence - as we were doing outreach a guy boasted he had shot another guy in the leg earlier that sunday morning... a girl at the promise group bible study tonight is from the street where four people were shot and killed last week... one of the guys killed was the cousin of the boyfriend of another girl who was at Promise group.

the pain and the violent tragedies are not insular. What happens across the city does affect us - and through the web of relationships, we are connected.

"Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe" - John Muir

today in Staff meeting at EGC we talked about ecosystems -interconnected, balanced, cycles - and what does a gospel ecosystem look like? what does it mean to think about the vitality of the church in terms of a healthy ecosystem? What is the pollution that causes sickness? what keeps the balance regulated? We must recognize everyone comes with differing perspectives - which can change the definition of things. The fruits of the spirit are produced in a healthy spiritual ecosystem - connecting through relationships - between us and God, between each other, and between us and nature. Sin is not an element of the system, but rather unhealthy relationships - brokenness introduced, affecting the entire system.

We are all operating in complex systems all the time - and our goal should not be to try harder to understand these systems - but to enter in and engage them - be conscious of the reality, and learn.