Its Always Rainy In Scranton

If its always sunny in Philadelphia then it is certainly always rainy in Scranton. In fact, we have tallied up a whopping 37.56 inches of rain fall (not including snow) this year and I'm convinced that we saw the majority of that in June and July. Nothing is quite so depressing as a rainy day and its easy to get bent out of shape when our picnic plans have been delayed or the backyard project that we hoped to tackle has to wait till next weekend. Yes, overcast days often impede our best laid plans yet they are not with out their paradox...

With each picnic thwarting drop that falls from its gloomy home above to the earth below a miracle takes place. You see, once a raindrop has hit the ground its journey is far from over. Gravity will continue in its efforts to push that tiny bit of water through the top soil, deep into the stores of groundwater that make up the earth's water table. Groundwater, irrigates crops, feeds nutrients to fields and forrest, and provides more then 50% of our drinking water. You can see where I am going with this... No raindrops... No life.

Metaphorically speaking, this is just a little to much like life... How many rainy days have you endure this year? How many troubles have you encountered in this past week?

But there is a flip side...

Writing to his heavy ladened readers the apostle James said, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1)

Simply put, adversity in this life is a catalysts for spiritual growth.

Despite my relatively young age of 29, my life has not been without its fair share of rainfall. By the time I was 22, I had been diagnosed with cancer and by the time I was 24, I became aquatinted with the helpless agony of standing along side of my wife as she experienced a painful miscarriage. I don't pretend to know "why" these things happened but I do know that my days are not devoid of God's providential design and attention. In other words, at the end of my day God is not sitting up in the heavens on His cosmic recliner scratching His head wondering what went wrong. He is the father of the rain (Job 38:28) and not a single rain drop hits the ground without the express authority of its Father. Likewise, not a single calamity enters my life apart from my Father's sovereign hand.

Each rainy day is designed for our good and His glory. In this simple fact we can rejoice!

And as my friend Andy says, "This is the day the Lord has made and He did a really good job."

Unparalleled magnitude

The brightest observable stars appear as nothing more then pin pricks in the night sky and many can only be seen in the best of conditions with the best of equipment. The smallest known star, OGLE-TR-122b, though it is 20% larger then Jupiter is not viewable by the naked eye. If these bodies of stellar light which are so amazingly bright do not transcend even our galaxy how much brighter must Jesus be? Jesus conceals himself from the prism of this world yet His light pierce our hearts and minds dividing our very souls. Light so bright that it transcends our solar system, our galaxy, and our universe as well as our bodies, our souls, our minds, and our hearts. Jesus is of unparalleled magnitude.

Doughnuts, coffee, and the eternal God

Often I find myself showing up to church on Sunday mornings in greater anticipation of doughnuts and coffee then an encounter with the eternal God. What is it about a hot steamy cup of jo and a lump of flower, sugar, and yeast, that enraptures our senses? Paul warned the Philippians to “watch out for those who’s god is their appetite” and during His encounter with the Samaritans Jesus told His disciples “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” Food, unlike Jesus is temporal, yet there is something about the temporal which often distracts us from the eternal. For example, the disciples priority to eat food kept them from seeing the spiritual harvest that Jesus had set before them in Samara. Now I am not saying that we should excommunicate doughnuts and coffee from the church—by all means enjoy your Sunday morning trip to Starbucks—but don’t allow your sunday morning goodies (or anything for that matter) to distract you from the eternal God.

Kicking off our commonplace religious shoes

God’s truth is old and has been indelibly written across time—always relevant no matter the cultural context. As such I have been finding myself reaching for a worn and tattered 1965 printing of Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest. This past weekend I read the entry for January 3rd: Clouds and Darkness in which Chambers states:

“If we have never had the experience of taking our commonplace religious shoes off our commonplace religious feet, and getting rid of all the undue familiarity with which we approach God, it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to Jesus Christ. After the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus does, comes the impenetrable darkness of realizing who He is.”

Its funny to think of familiarity with God as being dangerous to us because there is a level at which we are (and should be) familiar with Him. However we should never feel as though we “get” Him. As the Chris Tomlin songs states He is indescribable, uncontainable, all powerful, and untamable. While God is obtainable through the cross there should always be in our worship a sense of wonder and awe which draws us ever deeper into the darkness of His mystery.

The Trinity... Not An Egg

I don’t know if its the modern need to classify and explain or the post-modern need to dissect and understand but either way it seems as though we loose a sense of wonder and awe when we try to explain that which is unexplainable about God. The Trinity is not an egg, clover, H20, or even space (sorry Jack). Its the Trinity, confounding and anything but simple. This is not to say we should give up on Theology. That would be foolish. The process of mining out Scripture and seeking to understand God is part of what carries us into His mystery in the first place. However, I think its okay if we occasionally walk away just scratching our heads. Sometimes not understanding can lead us into deeper levels of worship then (supposed) understanding.