Incubation.

Such a not-so-nice-sounding word. It congers up pictures of babies in shell-like containers, often with wires and tubes everywhere.

This past Sunday we had a son, Owen Franklin, born to a family in the church. He has had trouble breathing so only mom has been able to hold him and that has only been in the Special Care Unit of the hospital. Two sisters and a brother (especially the younger sister) have not been able to hold him or get close to him. And yes it is killing them.

I was able to see him through the window Monday. Not hooked up to tubes and not encased in a shell, but still receiving excellent care as he gets stronger. I won’t call it complete incubation…just partial.

My grandson just got a tortoise for his birthday. It is supposed to get to be 100 pounds and live 65 years. Oh…WOW! Right now it is like he is living in an incubator. Two different kinds of lights (day and night). The right food. The right environment.

Randy contends in Stone 23 that “each church is to be an incubator.” No church is to be an end in itself.  There are far too many people who think that is all there is. The purpose of a church is to reproduce. It is not to keep people down or strapped to tubes (legalism). Every church is to be an incubator, being used to lead people to Jesus, not make decisions on our own.

This is a random post based on this book.