I really enjoyed being with Isaac and Jenny Keene last week end. I miss his Christ-centered wisdom.
The following is from a couple of blog posts three years ago. Isaac’s comment is more relevant to me than ever.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Our small group met this evening. Good discussion about marriage relationships. It is obvious that we are seeking to have good marriages and it is a struggle.
As we discussed the various strategies we use to help us through transitions and the ebb and flow of our lives, it occurred to me that we most often think only in our particular context. For example, we may resolve an issue by finding time for our self by getting away or working on our hobby etc. These are not bad ideas and maybe effective but they are only available to people who have life circumstances that permit such opportunities. If our thinking is limited to a particular context, then what about those whose circumstances have no room for such solutions. What does the family whose lives are consumed from daylight to dark with just surviving do? If we are to really be salt and light to the world, don’t our coping strategies have to be able to transcend every circumstance? If not, we will only have something to offer those who live in our context. And if that is true then the only possibility for us to be salt and light is to first bring those who do not enjoy our circumstances up to our standard so we can be salt and light to them. Does that sound familiar?
So what are the coping strategies that transcend all of life’s circumstance and enable us to be salt and light? And by the way, are not the contextual solutions inherent with choosing what our life should look like and then doing everything we can to accomplish it?
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
I am still thinking about Isaac’s comment on my last post. In part he said:
“Quit looking for the solution and find the opportunity in the problem itself.” Could it be that the precise reason for these problems is the opportunity to bear witness to God’s sufficiency admidst the problem? Could it be that the answer is: there is no coping strategy. Could it be that the call of Christ is not to solve the problem, but to suffer it? Perhaps the call is not to the end, but to the journey….
