Not Making Pretzels

I was trained as a chemical engineer. I learned how to take consistent raw materials and run them through a consistent process under consistent conditions to make a consistent product. This is how pretzels are formed from flour, salt, leaven, and water. But it's not how people and churches are formed. Instead, watch how leaders lead when conditions are wildly variable and people are so diverse. Look for signs of trust, affiliation, curiosity, and attention. Listen to the stories.

Explorer

Like any culture, God’s kingdom is vast, deep, and layered. As a relative newcomer (we’re all beginners), there’s so much to discover in its frontiers. Am I pressing in to learn—and to adapt? Am I growing up and branching out? And, do I resist the relentless tug of the ‘old kingdom’ that’s all around me? I know my tendency will be to prefer comfort, and the world’s patterns pull hard, but I also know these ‘weeds’ choke out life and freedom. (cf. Matt. 13:22)

HE>I

It's true that He is greater than I. It's a bit of an understatement, right? One hundred is greater than 99. And God's omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, omnibenevolence, and omnificence are greater than my very limited analogs. Both are true, but the scale of the comparison is so different.

It's also true that I'm not nothing. You're not nothing. We are not worms, as some have taught. Each of us has been created in God's image to bear his image. In limited ways, we project God's glory individually and together.