Do Something Amazing

Doing something amazing was placed in the DNA of humans by God because He has an unfolding plan for His creation.

Cynthia Cullen wrote a great post that challenges us to not stop short of Something Amazing. That’s an important thought because often your something amazing thing is directly connected to God’s unfolding plan. I’ve posted Cynthia’s wonderful article below or you can read it directly from Cynthia’s Cheval Glass blog.

“Something Amazing”
Watch this clip from one of our favorite family movies, The Incredibles.

There is something inside of that desires to break out of the predictable, mundane, and planned part of our existence. We long for an unexpected windfall, a suprise, even a miracle. Francis Chan, in his book Forgotten God, says this about miracles…

“Miracles are never an end in themselves;they are always a means to point to and accomplish something greater.”

That is what we want…to be a part of something amazing…to say we were there when”it” happened…to play a part in something greater than ourselves and our time…to leave a legacy.

Church planting is miracle territory. As think back over the last four years that Todd and I have been on Hilton Head Island, there have been a lot of miracles…experiences and situations that fit all of those things I mentioned.  However, this Sunday at the Island Campus, we are stepping into some major miracle territory. I do not want to diminish any of the amazing things that God has done over the last four years – they are all miracles! From locating our first temporary facility to finding our first permanent facility to where we are today…embarking on purchasing our first permanent facility. These are just examples in one category!

There are the people miracles…changed lives…people who were far from God who are now in a daily relationship with Him…these are miracles.

There are personal miracles in the life of my family… a brother-in-law who is cancer free, the ability to purchase a home for our family on the Island, and financial recovery from some tough days in our past.

I long for the miraculous. I desire to see the unpredictable and the unplanned happen. I am an organized person in my job and with my family life because it is out of necessity (trust me!). However, I feel the most alive when the unexplained becomes reality -when common sense says, “That’s impossible.”

Mothers are required to be realists (I think it’s in a handbook somewhere.) It’s my job in our home to be “the dose of reality” when it comes to our family schedule, chores, budget…you get the picture. I think it is because of that role that I play in our family, that I long for any opportunity to dream and say “Wouldn’t it be great if…”  That is what I love about church planting. Yes, you have to have a dose of reality in the mix, but for the most part, this is ALL unchartered territory! You can’t put a formula to every part and in fact, I think God probably gets a chuckle at all our stats, strategies, and formulas for church planting!

Maybe this whole idea of wanting something amazing paralyzes you as a person. You are okay without being a part of miracles. Maybe you have never seen one and so you don’t understand what all the buzz is all about. Maybe you have seen a miracle, but you have forgotten what it felt like to experience it.  Are you afraid to dream because “God might not come through?” Read this quote from Forgotten God…

“I think the fear of God failing us leads us to “cover for God.” This means we ask for less, expect less, and are satisfied with less because we are afraid to ask for or expect more. We even convince ourselves that we don’t want more – that we have all the “God” we need or could want.” – Francis Chan, Forgotten God, pg. 47

I want to see more, be a part of more, experience more, and be blown away by the Creator God who by very definition is creative...unpredictable, original…and wants to do something amazing in me and through me.

“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree: “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed.They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them. ”So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song.  All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines—Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.” – Isaiah 55:8-13 (MSG)