Rachelle and I just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. My oldest daughter begins middle school. Matt, our youth minister, is moving to a college position states away. Some other friends form Colorado are leaving for Oklahoma. Relationships, like life, are always in a state of movement. The years move along, people move away, but the constant in our life is a need for relationship.
When God molded humanity, he did so in His own likeness. The meaning of that has everything in the world to do with relationships. Now we all know how badly we fail at relationships. Adam blamed Eve for causing problems in their relationship. Cain blamed Abel for his own insensitivity to his relationship with God. Not much has changed from the very beginning. We fail, but must never give up.
Think about the popular saying: "It's not what you know, but who you know." I hated that statement at one point, but the reality is that there is a great deal of truth to that. Relationships matter; relationships move us; relationships change us.
Some of my most important relationships are with people I would classify as "unbelievers." I think the time I spent outside church employment working with a large company taught me that. Most of my life had been sheltered around believers...a life totally opposite from the example of Christ. While Jesus had an inner circle, He built relationships with those who were far away from faith. A pursuit of a relationship with God always takes us into places of need.
One of my favorite songs is Switchfoot's Dare you to Move. I love this part of the song:
Maybe redemption has stories to tellSo I too dare you.
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before
-Alan
