Brick House.

Here’s another analogy.

I am the brick house. The bricks make up parts of who I am, my identity, my likes, dislikes, passions, ways of thinking, theology, experiences, that sort of thing.

Over the past two(ish) years I’ve been “de-constructing” by taking apart my brick house and looked very closely at every brick to try to decide whether or not to discard it, put it to one side or rebuild with it. Some decisions have been easy however I have a lot of bricks I’m not too sure of. Actually… there are a lot of bricks that I have no idea what to do with, and a couple of weeks ago it was really overwhelming. A couple of weeks ago I was receiving prayer and I had this image of the top of a hill with bricks everywhere, just everywhere all over the hill and I had no idea what I was going to do. I felt so much pressure, so much doubt, so overwhelmed. But thankfully I was in a safe place. At that moment in time of prayer I was being loved by my wife and friend. The first thing my wife said in response was, “It’s ok. You don’t have to put the bricks back together. That’s something God will do.” The my friend said, “Yeah, that’s it. There’s no pressure”. That’s when it dawned on me. I’m a son. Not a slave, or worker, a hired hand keeping to a time schedule to get it all together before the storms come rolling by. It’s all good… I am loved unconditionally, bricks everywhere, decisions unmade, a bit lost and overwhelmed.

I came across this passage in the Bible a couple of days ago.

Hebrews 3: 1-6

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

I know I’ve read this verse before but it’s never really stood out to me until now. I took it as a sign and I’m glad that God speaks through scripture to confirm what he is doing in my life.

If we take the analogy further, what exists outside the house is the weather and seasons and all things outside. Seasons and weathers change and I’m sure that God is rebuilding me for a new season. My house, myself, will be re-structured, re-built and re-designed in such a way that will be the most effective to live out the new season, whatever that looks like.

God is standing on that hill with me rebuilding his house and there’s no rush… He’s handing me a brick at a time and we chat through it and decide what to do with it. It’s good fun.

Culture shock.

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I feel like I'm experiencing culture shock...

The culture shock is in the overwhelming experience of this very extraordinary ordinary way of life, and I've come to realize that what makes the ordinary extraordinary is God’s love manifest in all things.

If you didn't already know, my wife and I live in a community with four others at the moment and we do very normal things here. We eat lots of good healthy food (organic homegrown tomatoes, butternut squash, venison sausages made from wild game), we play (so far... volleyball, softball, cycling, the latter two had my bum aching the day after... don't know how I over-stretched my bum muscles playing softball but whatever), we learn together, we do our grocery shopping (and buy 40lb of bananas for $5), we decorate our house (with a piano and coordinating mismatch furniture), we mow our lawn (with an old petrol lawn mower which has now broke down, so now we use the neighbour's push-mower), play with the neighbour's cat (Asher the kitten), etc...

But it is the intentionality in which we do these things together and build relationships with one another and with God that makes the ordinary extraordinary. Our community house is an example of a few friends getting together, creating an environment in which we can make a home in which family relationships can organically grow and deliberately love one another in everyday life-on-life experiences. The wider community around us adopts the same culture of intentionally cultivating deeper relationships. In the same way we're trying to create that intentional space for God. We set aside time to pray together as a house, we pray with those who live in the same area and we pray as a larger Boiler Room/church community. It feels like the intentionality of what we do (e.g. pray together, eat together, share life together, encourage one another, rest well, spend time alone with God, explore creativity and things that God wants to enjoy with us) opens us up for deeper relationships with each other and with God.

...

I feel like a lot of what I am learning is through osmosis. The culture around me is just seeping into me like water filling a plant cell. It's nice not to be running on empty all the time. Processing all that's going on around me is probably the biggest challenge. Articulating, naming and speaking family values and God's kingdom is not new but I think I best anchor attitudes and concepts by talking about them. I'm a verbal processor so I best process ideas and thoughts by speaking them or writing them down. If I didn't I'd just forget and it would probably lose its impact over time so writing this blog is really good for me :)

I really hope this experience stays with me. That our time in Kansas City, what we're learning and absorbing will really help us to continue to seek to be more like Jesus and live and love like He did. Someone recently said "You can only give out of what you have" and I think that's true.

"The Beach"

I really love beaches. I love the fact that there are rock pools to explore and lots of little animals and a mini ecosystem that lives and thrives there. I love that it's where the land meets the sea and it's constantly changing and moves with the tides. I love it because it's where you can do some fishing! I love that it's a place a lot of people set aside to relax and sunbathe and chill out. I love sunsets. I love the ice cream vans that visit. It's a very fun environment for me.

Right now (in the context of my life) I feel like I'm at the beach. I'm in a sort of "in-between/ transitional" place between "land and sea", one part of my life and the next. I am in Kansas City (Missouri) with my wife and we left home in the UK four days ago with the aim to make Hong Kong our home next year. We're in Kansas City to join "24-7 Prayer" on "The Vision Course" to prepare for our journey onto Hong Kong and just like I would be at the beach I am really really happy to be here. It's just so much fun... Yesterday we played beach volleyball and had a barbeque! Two very "beach-y" activities. We're also here to get to know the people we'll be journeying with in Hong Kong. We (my wife and I) live in a community house and eat together all the time. For me, it's also a place of healing and rest. I haven't been properly plugged into a church community for a while and I'm so excited to join with a home who, in all our brokenness and imperfections, try to seek Jesus, to serve and be served, to live out my sonship in God's kingdom rather than an attitude of a slave or an orphan.  I'm looking forward to all the good things God has in store for us. I'm excited to experience a deepening of character and growing in an ability to love well. I intend to live entirely in the present holding our future lightly, because who knows what's going to happen or where we'll end up? I also intend to blog regularly in a deliberate attempt to make time to reflect and soak all that's going on around and in me. There's a richness that I don't want to miss so it would be my privilege to share with you my journey.

Til the next blog.