The Relational Mission

It was rainy today in Houston. A typical winter, yucky day. Yes, I can wear shorts but this is just dreary. This makes me think about life and the journey of finding God in the midst of the everyday and ordinary stuff that we do. This day makes me think about the suffering of the world, those who are facing great pain and loss. I think about the Christians who are being martyred as I write this. About wives who try and stay faithful to God when their husbands couldn't care less. About parents whose kids are making poor decisions. About people who have made radical choices to serve God, but things did not turn out like expected. The journey of following God will be marked by rainy days, rainy seasons, and sometimes even rainy years.When you are in those dreary times, all you can see is rain, grey and nothingness. The sun is nowhere. But those days are part of the journey. The dreary seasons teach us that walking with God is not about stepping from one triumphal act to the next...

"One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings —ah, the sheer grace!— I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled." These words comprise the opening stanza of The Dark Night by Saint John of the Cross. For years, I've heard about the experience of the dark night of the soul. And I've tried my best to avoid the dark night experience and this book because I had no desire for anything that looked like a dark night. I guess that's because I associated "dark night" with depression and I went through that once and I don't ever want to go back there. However, the dark night experience is a bit different. In describing this stanza, John commented "The soul speaks of the way it followed in its departure from love of both self and all things. Through a method of true mortification, it died to all these things and to itself. It did this so as to reach the sweet and delightful life of love of God." I've come about a dark nig...