Yesterday was one of those days that began before sun-up and lasted past dark-thirty. It was a chilly day of pond work, spraying limestone off a boat (and often in my face) but it was cool (pun totally intended) because I spent the day with my son. As typically happens when we are working together (which doesn't happen that often anymore), he shared some things with me that were on his heart and I shared some things with him about what I had learned in my forty-seven years. The biggest revelation I believe I have come to know is this...
There are some things you just won't know 'til you get there.
As much as you plan to stay out of the mud, you don't really know what you will do until you find yourself stuck in it. It's not until you've been through the fire and been caught in the flood that you can say how you would handle yourself in any given situation. And when you find yourself standing on the other side of a sea that almost swallowed you whole, you see things differently than you did before. Like I said... there are just some things you won't know 'til you get there.
I've changed my views on many things over the years. My views... yes. My values... no. I've come to see how my views, at times, may have hurt people. When that was the case, I worked to seek reconciliation. I've come to see there are some things against which I need to take a stronger stance... how my willingness to sit with sin put me on shaky ground and sinking sand. And I've come to know just how much He loves me through all of my messes. I believe He loves even the people we don't like to let into our church and If I've learned anything, I believe it is this...
There's a place for every person;
There's a pardon for every sin;
There's a peace for every heart;
If you will but let Him in.
And as much as I know He loves me... He actually loves me more than that. And He loves you, too. It's another one of those things that I just won't know completely...
'til I get there with Him.
"... and I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
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