It never ceases to amaze me how God continues to teach and stretch me and give me new eyes.  Several weeks ago I went to the eye doctor for an exam and new glasses.  They put this thing up to my face & eyes and then it started.  “Tell me which one is clearer…this one or this one.  A or B.  First or Second.”  Well, you get the point.  After all the tests were done they took me to look at frames (It kills me when someone without his glasses on is supposed to see how he looks in a mirror.  Yes, my eyes are that bad).  I also had my eyes dilated. I want to go on record as saying, “I despise that!”  Especially when you have to go outside in the sun and have to wear those funky shades they give you.  My glasses finally came in a week later and I knew something was wrong from the moment I put them on but they wanted me to wear them for a few days to make sure.  Long story short: I was right.  The bifocal part of it was just a shade off and that messed up my whole reading out of my right eye.

God has been giving me new glasses to see with as well.  Lately I have been reading Missional Renaissance by Reggie McNeal.  It has struck a chord in me.  I read something yesterday that really hit home.  Not because it was so convicting but because it made such sense.   I am going to include some thoughts from the book but not the whole section.  So paragraphs will be separated by (…).

How do we pull all this together in coming to an understanding of what the missional church is?  My answer is that the missional church is the people of God partnering with God in His redemptive mission to the world…At the same time, this understanding of who we are as the church (not what we are-a place or a religious vendor) carries great responsibility.  Our job is not to “do church” well but to be the people of God in an unmistakable way in the world…This means that wherever missional followers of Jesus are, the church is there-at home, at work, at school, in the neighborhood, at the ballpark, in the dance studio, in the homeless shelter, at the airport-wherever followers of Jesus are taking seriously their identity as the people of God…Our ‘thereness’ is what the world needs.  It needs the church to be there…Church is not a part of life for the missional Jesus follower; it is a way of life with others who are on a similar journey…The missional life shows up in every endeavor, because the church has been sent by God into the world to reflect his heart for the world.

God often does some lens-flipping exercises with our “eyes” until we see things more clearly.  He is doing that with me right now.   I don’ t even know how all of this is going to turn out or what the ramifications of it will be.  All I can say is “open my eyes Lord to see new things from You.”

I’m wondering what you are learning these days.  Care to share what God is teaching you in this season of your life?  I would like to hear.