Two rather major events occurred in my life within the last two weeks. On Tuesday, February 12, at
Then, on Friday, February 22, at the Bexar County Courthouse, Alisha and I stood up together as the judge announced that our adoption of Joshua Steven Rice had been granted. This was the final step in a process that has taken close to a year and a half and has included nearly as much paperwork as my ordination process.
A couple of people have asked, “Aren’t you glad to be finished?” And I am, but finished is probably not the right word. These two milestones in my life are very similar in that they were and are both things that were already done and not yet completed. I believe that God called me into Christian ministry on my baptism. My ordination will mark the end of a process but not the beginning and certainly not the end of my ministry. It is really just another step on the path that I have allowed my heart to follow. Our adoption of Joshua is the end of a legal process but we became Joshua’s parents and he became our son the day he was carried through our front door and we still have a long journey ahead as a family.
It is important to mark milestones in our lives. It is good to stop and mark major events and accomplishments and give thanks to God for where we have been and how far we have come; but we always need to do so in the context of the continuing journey of growth and change that God has in store for us.
The Apostle Paul, with so many accomplishments already behind him writes in his letter to the Philippians about his own spiritual journey, “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Paul is speaking of sanctification, the idea that, while there is a major milestone in our lives when we accept the grace that God offers us, when we are justified, there is also so much more. There is the prevenient grace of God that loved us before we even knew it and the sanctifying grace of God that continues to mold us and change us and recreate us more in God’s image. I was called to be a pastor before I knew it, I will be becoming a pastor for the rest of my life. Joshua and Alisha and I were a family long before the court decided so and we will be becoming a family as long as we live.
During the season of Lent, as we prepare our hearts for Easter, I invite you to consider where you are on the journey. Where are you on the continual journey of transformation and re-creation that God has undertaken in you?
peace,
will
No comments:
Post a Comment