restoration

moss covered Oregon!

You couldn't tell it from reading this blog, but Beth and I have been having a BLAST here in Oregon. Please do not mistake the silence on this forum for the last few months as a sign that our lives have been boring. Just the opposite in fact, we have been rolling, dare I say bathing, in the beauty and creativity of Portland, and of the West Hills Friends community.

I have been reflecting on restoration as of late. Our time in Denver was filled with its share of challenges, especially as they relate to our understanding of how God works in our lives. When you start to doubt the beliefs you have about how God leads, and about how God provides, you must then go through a process of restoring, or correcting those original beliefs. These last few months have been a process of restoration. Questions like, "How did we end up here?" and thus, "How was God working in this process" have been circulating in my mind as of late.

I'm not totally interested in discussing the theological and biblical workings of this, because I am more apt to simply say that God leads in a much different way then I originally thought. What if God isn't that condemning, anti-imaginative, anti-creative, anti-playful voice on my shoulder? What if God, instead, is the voice saying, "I dare you...just for a second...to DREAM, go absolutely wild, I have NOTHING to say to you to stop you from dreaming." If that is God's voice, then I have to say that we listened to the voice of God, and here we are.

When a community like West Hills Friends gives you the opportunity to respond to that voice of God, you naturally feel unbelievably thankful. One of the many things I am thankful for is that because of them, many things have been restored to me.

mark