I sit in the middle of the official tsunami memorial...
...a Thai park filled with Buddhist-inspired gardens, architecture and monuments....and my favorite sitting spot.
Everything seems so quiet, so peaceful...still and tranquil.
But then I allow my senses to open and my perspective to broaden just so...and I peer over the rock barrier and watch the waves of the channel clash from afar. As my eyes weave closer, I see the whirlpools churning in the distance and trace in vain a clear line of foam...as the surge races to to the shore.
I journey from my comfort zone, crawl down to rest atop the rock wall, only but a couple feet from the present shore line. I feel the mist, the spray from the crescending mountain tops, hear the climaxing roar of the mighty orchestra.
It's powerful and poetic...
the true meaning of majesty.
Not the kind of majesty that is sung to bounce off the walls to a congregation staring to nowhere, but the kind of majesty that is pronounced through the walls to a world in desperate need.
The kind of majesty that grows and builds,
it flies and leaps upwards to meet its fellow cerulean body,
gallops, sprints, glides, rolls outward, through, forward to FIGHT its blockade of earth and rock.
The kind of majesty that cannot be contained, that reaches beyond any fathomed heights and widths, that destroys its obstacles and replenishes its path, that fits and bends and leaks into every pore of dry sand, every rocky crevice of shore.
A majesty that does NOT promote quiet, does NOT promote stagnation and security,
but instead REJOICES in the POWER
of change and flexibility, of spreading and stretching, of engulfing the shores every morning with its energy and tireless churning and recedes to reveal gifts of plenty and a beautiful peace, a piece of land, pieces of sand and shell and rock and all that the undercurrent could offer...with the everlasting promise of return and rebirth.
Romans 1 speaks of how, from the beginning of time, since the creation of man and nature and all the lies therein, God made it undeniably evident that He existed, that He was almighty creator, majestic God of gods. That everything that we needed to know about God: his eternal power, his divine nature and Godhead...had already been given to us.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse
You can see God in these waters, in His seas and oceans...
No matter how many Buddhist altars, royal shrines, rock gardens, and man-made, modern monuments...the sea, our GOD can NOT be quieted,can NOT be contained, can NOT be ignored.
Our God's unchanging, everchanging, kingdom surrounds it all...it COMMANDS attention, beckoning His people, His creation, His beloved to greater things, to farther nations, to a higher, more powerful, more complex ruling MAJESTY.
His kingdom was not meant to be quiet and peaceful like that of Buddha,
but rather His Kingdom was meant to be loud, meant to be revolutionary and (gasp!) offensive.
It was meant to be something you could not just sit and be comfortable with, sit and work inward on, sit in a crowd, on a pew and sing on Sundays.
NO!
His sea, His Kingdom, His followers, His church were meant to defy the boundaries, to crash against the rocks, to challenge the shoreline, to step outside the doors and tear down the walls, to do far greater and more spectacular and mightier things through HIS winds, and HIS waters, and HIS WORD....for the sake of HIS lands, HIS people.
I am NOT ASHAMED of the gospel for it is THE POWER of God through salvation for everyone who believes - Romans 1:16
-----------------------------------
Upon arrival to this village (about 2.5 years ago), the various Christian groups (including Calvary Chapel, CDC, and several others) declared CLAIM to this village as Christ's own.
With all due respect however, I must interject...
God had already laid claim to the village as His own long before the missionaries of this village were even born.
He commanded power and attention from this village and the Christian community with the tsunami... And now I believe this village is ripe for the planting- the hurt, the pain, the questions, the children...their all searching for answers. And finally there is someone besides the Buddhist monks to answer them.
Is it worth losing the lives, losing the souls of 3/4 of a lost village, so that the quarter remaining may know true, everlasting life?
Does it take a catastrophe to WAKE US UP, to push us that extra inch off the cliff into the unknown?
We should be running and diving off that cliff! We have the power behind us!- "If God be for us, who can be against us?"- Romans 8:31
I want to encourage you- whoever and wherever you are...to JOIN THE REVOLUTION. To take hold of this mighty power that God has issued you to change, to save lives with-
that same mighty power that He controls the oceans, the clouds, the lightening, the wind with!
--------------------------------------------------
This same park, which to the lazy eye and ignorant spirit exalts men and a man-made religion, and institution...
is in a crazy (assuredly unplanned) way memorializing the God that conquered that human nature through salvation, that conquered evil at its finest, that conquered the death, destruction, and sorrow that consumed this village two and half years ago.
It preserves that power.
It is a memorial to the all consuming, unbridled, mightiness of God, of Jehovah spoken of in the Old Testament.
For me, above all, It is a reminder, a horrific shout for attention, of the thousands of souls lost forever in its wake,
and a missional statement, to reach and work and smile and love the ones mercifully left behind.
It is a pronounced CLAIM of His majesty above ALL.
Psalm 145:
4One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
5On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.
7They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
I challenge you to commit to that joy, that love, that mission, HIS mission in your life (as I work to do the same)...to NOT become stagnant and comfortable and quiet, to never stop running, never stop growing and stretching and pushing on those barriers (no matter how rocky)...to lay CLAIM to your neighboorhood, your school, your household
and pronounce the claim of His Majesty, our King.
No comments:
Post a Comment