Reflections
Thoughts about living a more beautiful story.
My hope
When our family was fractured
Splattered on the sidewalk into disparate pieces
And I didn’t know how to put it back together
And I wasn’t sure if it was ever going to happen
Because I didn’t know how to do it
And I wasn’t sure if God could be trusted to actually do it
There was one unshakeable idea
God could do it
God could help our family get stitched back together
I had no expectation that it would happen quickly
No thought that some miracle would take place overnight
I had no expectation, honestly, that God would fix our family
But I believed that God could
Letting go of my divine expectations
I was about 6 weeks away from the end of my pastoral career when I heard this tragic news story. This one hit me a little closer to home than stories of war atrocities in other countries and in different generations. I know so many horrible stories, but when I heard this one it was like a gut punch. With convincing finality, I concluded that although God may be loving and kind, God was either not powerful enough to save this family, or God simply didn’t choose to perform a simple act to save them.
My story of following Jesus toward a more beautiful story since the 1980s, with evolving and expanding views of the love of God in and out of pastoral ministry.
Want to jumpstart your own journey? These books, podcasts, and individuals have guided me toward a more beautiful story and could help you too.