Watching the wind...

I'm watching the wind take tall strong pine trees and toss them back and forth, whip my American Flag to and fro violently...

Yet...

Am I?

Am I watching the wind?

I am watching its affects. The wind is invisible.

As I read Philip Yancey this morning, I find I am in need of a theology shift. I can carry forward some of the beautiful lessons of yester-year's moves of God without carrying forward their excesses. 

I can look to Faith and Healing as true, real, and necessary parts of living in God.

But not to the exclusion of Pain and Suffering.

Both the Heights of Pleasure/Reward and the Depths of Pain/Suffering are parts of the life we live on this broken Earth.

In a broken world, things break. 

That's it. That's the cause of suffering. It isn't God's will that you suffer but the world is broken and His promise of ultimate restoration is future-tense. 

When Jesus steps foot on the Earth, he will make things new. But even then, 1,000 years later there will be a second round of suffering before the world is re-made in His image. 

So until the ULTIMATE restoration of all things into His will... There will be Pain. It will be a part of life. God will walk through the valley of the shadow of death with us. 

Note: Walk through, not avoid.

But out of that experience, he also brings comfort, banquet table, and anointing.

Healing and Death.

Pleasure and Pain.

These are all part of the experience.

I can find Him in all of it.

If I turn to Him in both, both will be more fulfilling and rewarding, despite the Pain.

I may not always see Him in every moment, sometimes His wind is very still. 

Sometimes He will rush in and move things, other times He will be a gentle touch, other times He will be so still I am not aware, but He is there. 

Always there.  

If I can breathe then I know the air of His presence is there, felt or not.

Selah.