Complexity at it's Finest...

I love it when life happens the way it has over the last couple of weeks. There hasn't been too much going to and I've had a lot of time to think, mainly about the vast possibility of seminary in the fall of '08, but also about a lot of other things.

In Sunday school this week I taught a lesson on the complexity of God. One definition of complex is this: "so complicated or intricate as to be hard to understand or deal with." Does that describe our God or what? Well, maybe not the hard to deal with part, but definitely the rest of it. Even as far back as the act of Creation, God demonstrated to us His incredibly complex nature. On the first days of Creation, the Bible says that He simply spoke and the heavens and the earth and light and dark were all created. Just His Word, and He made something from nothing. Think about what that says about the power of our God. When you make something, you have materials that you work with. Chefs create meals using utensils and ingredients, artists use canvasses and paint. But God made the earth from nothing. Not that we should be surprised of course, because Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God "is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts." (CEV) The transcendent and holy nature of God is awe-inspiring!



But then there's the personal and relational nature of God. God spoke the heavens and the earth into existence, but when He created man, this is how He did it:

"Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person." (Gen 2:7 - NLT)

God came down from heaven, scooped up some dirt, formed Adam from the dust (probably much like a sculptor or a potter shapes his masterpiece - see Isaiah 64:8), and breathes life into his nostrils. Kinda makes you think of CPR in a whole new light, huh? But unlike the deists, who believe that God created us and now ignores us, our God longs to have a personal relationship with us. He longs to walk with us on this road of life, which can sometimes be pretty rocky and hard to navigate on our own. His will is not for us to be miserable, but to live life to the fullest! (John 10:10) Just as He was with Adam in the garden, He wants to be with us. In fact, He wants to be with us so much, that He gave up His only Son in order to make that possible.

A friend of Mary's from high school had a baby seven or eight months ago. The baby boy (Isaac) had many health problems and it was soon determined that best option for him was a total heart transplant. Unfortunately with fragile status of his little body, he wasn't strong enough for the doctors to attempt the surgery. His condition improved for a time, but then things began to steadily go downhill. Isaac passed away last night. Please pray for his parents, Patience and Jordan, as they go through this incredibly difficult time. For more info, you can check out their blog at babyleino.blogspot.com.

Imagine the pain that God must have gone through when He chose to give up His only Son to the cross. The pain He must have felt goes beyond human comprehension. But that's how much God loves us. That's how much the God of Moses and Abraham, the same God who parted the Red Sea and saved Daniel from the hungry lions, that's how much He wants to be with you. That's how much he longs to have a personal relationship with you.

These things have been on my heart for the last couple of days and so I thought that I'd share them with you. Again, please pray for Patience and Jordan. You may not, but God DOES know what they're going through. Thanks to that, Isaac is with Jesus right now. Thanks to that, Patience and Jordan will one day be reunited with their son.