Pastor Greg was at the table next to ours at the World Impact Banquet in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. His church, Malibu Presbyterian had pledged $500,000 to the Teen Center in Watts. Pastor Greg, who is a earnest follower of Jesus, gave the benediction.
7 hours later his church building burnt to the ground in the Malibu fire. God, is that fair?
I have found that God's idea of "good" and of "fair" is not bound to the "present", to the "short term", to the "small picture", or even limited to "earth time". His reasoning of "good" is "future", "long-term", "big picture", and "eternity". Until we see from that perspective, we must be careful about passing judgment on God.
Now that is hard...because I don't live in the "future", I live in the "now", I hurt on "earth-time". But it does help to know God is at work to build something better.
Pastor Greg said, "It's not the church, it's only a building. We believe beauty will come from ashes." They were fully insured and now they can start to rebuild in ways that are even more conducive to God's work in Malibu.
I was near the Mount St. Helen's eruption in 1980...the ash was like snow banks. But not long afterwards, artists began taking that ash and creating beautiful sculptures from it.
This is my calling...I am an assistant to the master "ash sculptor"...I am to help Him take ashes in people's lives and sculpt them into something beautiful. Jesus has done and is doing that for me. How about you?
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