Summer is Here

So this Sunday at Forefront, the AC wasn't on when we got there. It was like 75 degrees at 6am when I left my apartment to be there for setup, and a heat advisory was in affect for the day. So we turned on the AC, and it did not much. Remember, we meet in a theater with a tall ceiling. We were pretty hot doing setup, but got it all done earlier than usual. Yes! we thought, now we can get breakfast sandwiches in the nice cool corner deli. But no, their AC was not on either (but the breakfast sandwiches as always wonderful). So back the the warm Blender Theater.
I think everyone had in the back of their minds the idea that it would be cool by the time the first service started. Wrong. The programs were thicker because of life group info, so they made pretty good fans. At the end of 1st service, Jacob and a few others went to Walgreens, bought up some bottled water and ice and passed them out as people left and came in for the 2nd service. I must have drank at least 3 as well as a bit of OJ.
Usually when there's a heat wave, you hear about fights breaking out. The atmosphere at Forefront was different. People joked about it, dealt with it, and kept going.
After church, we had some reorganizing to do of all our supplies, so a bunch of people stayed after in the heat to reorganize and eat hot pizza. It was great. By the time I left for the train, I was completely drained. When I got off the train in Brooklyn, I had to get yet another drink - Gatorade. I took a wonderful cold shower and relaxed. Ahh, what fun! God is good!
Ya know, millions of Christians worship every week with no AC at all and they're fine. So I guess we got a glimpse of what it's like for them, as well as what it was like for Christians in New York 1900.

Static vs. Dynamic

So I was thinking about my life lately. Over the past two years, it's been filled with transition. During my senior year at Ozark, I started in preaching at a church in Commerce, OK. Shortly after, I moved off campus into my first apartment (and what an apartment it was...that's another story). I graduated and a week later I came to Forefront to do a Summer internship. Then God led to move to NYC and do stuff with Dave Smith. For a few months I was in limbo, and then I started my first full time job with Jews for Jesus. After a few months of a "stable" situation at J4J, Brian talks to me about a possible Leadership Residency at Forefront! It's seems ironic. During my 5 years at Ozark, I often longed for the "stability" of ministering in one place to one people, pouring all my energy into a church.
Maybe transition is a part of life, an essential tension. When we're kids we want to grow up, but when we're older we want to be kids again. I wonder if the danger is to put too much weight on either side of the tension. Too much focus on stability can stunt growth, but rapid and frequent change can suck the life out of you. Not too profound I guess. But it's true.
I wonder if this tension will be the same in the New Heaven and New Earth? We will be with the Lord, and that will be a stable thing, right? But I like to think that we'll have transition and growth. It's part of how we're created. Heaven won't be singing all the time. What will we discover, invent, change, or create? Life both now and then is dynamic vs. static.
What about God? At first I would think that God is static. Ya know, Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end, always the same yesterday and today. Gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. But God is also dynamic. When there was nothing but God, He created! He changed the status quo. He created man, who is dynamic. What a gamble! He spoke to man, did miracles in space and time, he gave the Law to the Hebrews. he spoke to the prophets. He even became a man himself, Jesus. God died on a cross. God defeated death by rising again. God now fills his people with his Spirit. He continues to perform miracles, reveal, speak, and guide us. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Static yes, but also dynamic.
So in the midst of everyday static life, we serve a Dynamic God, who is reconciling the world to himself through Christ Jesus. During the mundane, the Holy Spirit empowers us to bring his Kingdom to this earth. While there is nothing new under the sun, God is doing a new thing.
And when life is falling out of control, God is the same yesterday and today. When we are faithless, he is faithful. He is an ever-present help in time of trouble. When the weight of sin hangs on our shoulders, we know that he alone is Holy. Whatever our present circumstances, Jesus came, died in our place for our sins, and rose again to bring us life.
So...if life is mundane, maybe you need to embrace some change that God will bring into your life. And if your life is in transition, trust that God is the same that he always has been and always will be.

Only in New York

• The Wendy's Dollar Menu is $1.19.
• Standing 1/2 inch away from total strangers, while avoiding eye contact for more than 2 seconds, trying not to fall on someone, for up to 10 minutes.
  
• Seeing homeless people every single day.
• Real. Good. Breakfast Sandwiches.
  
• Riding a train with Chinese, Hasidic Jews, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, and whoever else you can think of.
• Real. Good. Bagels.
  
• Nearly being run over by a taxi and having people close to you laugh and say "welcome to New York."