Monday, April 27, 2009

Redemption is Here!

FACT: Bobby has three weeks left as the director of middle school ministries at Calvary Bible Church.

My departure will have consequences, both good and bad. The beauty of where our family is headed is that the good heavily outweighs the bad due to one foundational truth that we continue to see in our lives and the world around us. We trust and serve a redeeming God!

I have made plenty of mistakes over the past 3 years 3 months and 26 days. Undisciplined communication, not running tight programs, and fostering debate(which can often be interpreted as dissension)rather than peaceful community among staff are a few of the weaknesses that I have displayed over years. The beauty is that I leave knowing that God can redeem the past and raise up another leader to care for the hearts of Calvary's middle schooler students and their families in a whole new way.

That same reality of Christ redeeming a broken world gives our family hope into the future. Why quit your job in the middle of a global recession? Why leave a house that is safe, comfortable, and has beautiful views to watch each day rise with the pink glow of the flatirons and then settle over the mountains? Why Ireland?

I cannot answer every question in life. I also cannot answer the limited amount that we face during this transitional phase of our lives. The one thing that I continue to see as my eyes are open is that this world is messed up and no matter how hard I try to be a "good person" I am a contributer to the exorbitant levels of crap. The flip side to that same realization is that I see those same situations being redeemed in ways that I could not orchestrate and which seems to cry out of a design and purpose that transcends all of the confusion that we place ourselves in with each decision that we make.

My quest is not to fix myself or every screwed up situation I find myself facing in life. My hope is to learn the surrender necessary to let myself and others be healed and the catastrophic circumstances that often seem to define life be made new. Redemption is what creates the space necessary for one of my favorite book titles, "This Beautiful Mess".