Gracious Uncertainty

“Don’t talk to Strangers!”  If you are a parent or have kids in your life,  you HAVE uttered this creed. Even if you aren't around kids now, I would bet you remember being given this commandment as a child.   But I have a suspicion that we have unconsciously continued to adhere to this childhood rule as adults.

I had the pleasure of having coffee and talking for hours with a  STRANGER!  (I wasn't sure it would be a pleasure until I took the risk to invite her for a face to face meeting.)  She also took a risk and drove 3 hours to meet me, also a complete stranger to her!   Some may say she was foolish and put herself in a vulnerable situation...Some would say I was foolish, opening my home to a woman I don’t even know and have never met.  And yet, with gracious uncertainty,  we both took the risk. 

 She wanted to hear what I had to say. I wanted to encourage her.  She wanted to hear my story and I desired to hear hers.  I can tell you, It was so worth the risk!  I have a new friend!  I sought to encourage and have been encouraged myself!  We are meeting again face to face in a few weeks...(my turn to drive!)

Oswald Chambers addressed “gracious uncertainty”

 with these words...

“Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways...we don’t know what a day may bring forth....We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God....He packs our life with surprises all the time...”

So I ask you...

*will you step outside your comfort zone? 

*Will you talk to that stranger?

*Will you befriend the one who believes differently than you?

 *Will you drive 3 hours to speak face to face with a stranger?

*Will you share your lunch hour with that co-worker who eats alone?

The “Don”t talk to strangers” creed is certainly a wise rule for unattended children to follow.  But we, as adults, need to put away childish things. Get outside of your comfort zones!  Talk to Strangers!  Listen to their stories and tell them yours!  There is a big world out there and God means to connect people in wild and mysterious ways and for His specific purposes.  

We need to be so certain of God that we are willing to step out of the bunkers of the safe and comfortable and into the great unknown with Him and with each other.  When we do, our God will surprise us. Our uncertainty will then graciously give way to the blessing of authentic community!

“Stop neglecting to show hospitality to strangers, for by showing hospitality some have had angels as their guests without being aware of it.”  Hebrews 13:2 (The Message)

“Certainty is the mark of the common sense life: 

Gracious Uncertainty is the mark of a Spiritual Life” 

Which life are YOU living?

Come As You Are - Guest Blogger, Sonja Faith Lund

Since I have returned from the Gay Christian Network Conference I have been spending time both thinking/writing about my own experiences there and reading  those of my fellow attendees.  Today I want you to hear from Sonja Faith Lund, a beautiful soul and precious follower of Jesus.  I pray her message will inspire us to be mindful of the secret burdens that those sitting next to us in our church pews may be carrying...May the church, one day,  be a place where ALL are truly welcome to Come as You Are!    Read On...

On David Crowder's song; Come As You Are...Listen To 'Come As You Are'   

"Okay so let me talk about this song for a minute. It's gorgeous.

It's one of the first songs we sang in a general session at the GCN Conference, and I was tearing up (pretty sure everyone was) and for me, it wasn't just because it's a stunning song that had words which seemed to reach out to me personally and grab my attention:

"Oh wanderer, come home/you're not too far/so lay down your hurt/lay down your heart/come as you are”

No, the reason I'm still thinking about this song over a week later is related to a phrase that pops up in American Christian circles a fair bit:

 "Church (or Christianity) should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." 

Essentially, if your life is relatively stable, things are going good, church should encourage you to go outside of yourself and help others. If you're unstable, suffering, mourning, etc., church should be where you get respite from your pain and encouragement to keep going.

My whole time in Washington, so most of my life, my family attended a church in a wealthy part of the city. Because it could be safely assumed that most of us in the congregation were privileged and doing alright for ourselves, the sermons and such skewed much more toward the "afflicting the comfortable" approach. Which is fine, I suppose, until there's folks like me who quietly slide from "comfortable" to "afflicted". Folks like me who realize one day that their own church, and hundreds of millions of fellow Christians, don't want them just as they are, and have to deal with that exhausting emotional mess. 

 I'm finding myself surrounded--not just by the church where I grew up, but a lot of places--by the message that I should be Going Out There and Doing the Lord's Work when all I want is a community which will stand by me and assure me that everything is going to be okay. I don't need a push out the door, I need welcoming arms beckoning me inside.

So then here's this conference, and here's this song. This song which says nothing about preparing you to go be a missionary or join the Peace Corps or whatever, but instead just gently assures you that there is a home for you and you can go there and find rest. I needed this so much. So very, very much.”    

                                                          -Sonja Faith Lund