[the Bible would make a good blockbuster]

I don't care who you are or what you believe, the Bible is a really cool story. You want action? Got it. Good guys turned bad guys and bad guys turned good guys? Done. Drama? Yup. Love stories? Mhmm. Dramatic irony - when the audience knows something the character doesn't? All over the place.

You've got heartache and heartbreak and five thousands mini plots going on that all lead up to one big plot, one big story - the restoration of the nations and world to their original purpose. This is something we should be excited about. It's God creating individual people in His image to enjoy His world and worship Him. It's men running from God to pursue their own ideas of joy and happiness. It's God continuing to draw men back to Him and their true identity. It's God knowing it would take the ulimate sacrifice to make man's relationships right with Him again and saying, "Done. It's worth it." It's rocky, and it's messy, and it's a twisted plot that can only be understood from looking back, but it's truly a beautiful story.

And truth is - it's still unfolding. Revelation gives us a glimpse of what is to come, but truthfully nobody really understands or knows fully. I just know that we pray "Thy Kingdom come" every week in church, and yet God's Kingdom is already here. Here every time people's relationship with their Creator is restored. Here every time what is good and true triumphs over evil. Every time forgiveness is chosen in place of revenge. Every time love is shown instead of judgment. Every time prayer is offered instead of worry. This is God's Kingdom here now.

And yet it is still to come. The complete, unhindered reign of the Lord is still in the distance, yet each day draws us closer to that. This is something we should be passionate about. This is something we should be sprinting toward. Not walking. Not crawling. Not sleeping and waiting for it to arrive. Somebody once told me, the gospel is moving, and the church is asleep. Can we get excited though church? Let's wake up and join God in this story of His glory and His fame and His passion for worship. This is what we were made for. This is what we are to be about.

[thousand miles to go]

Do you ever feel like you learn the same lessons over and over again? Like you read back over the same Scripture and still struggle to embrace it and obey it and love it? And you see how far you've come yet there still seems like so far to go? I do.

I think the journey is the most important though. That what we learn along the miles in between is more valuable than the finish line even though we strain for that moment in time. That 1 Peter 1:6-7 is really true when it says our faith is of greater worth than gold. Our faith is what matters most. Not our happiness. Not our wealth. Not our achievements or our perfection or an easy life but our faith and trust in Christ.

So Lord:
"Take my broken offering and make it whole
And set my feet upon the road the leads me home.
Let me walk as one fixed upon the goal
Even though I've got a thousand miles to go."
[caedmon's call - "a thousand miles"]

And Lord let me embrace the miles instead of only seeing all the things I'm not yet. That every day I would stand on grace.

[our greatest asset can be our greatest undoing]

Here's a quote I found today and love: "A rich person is not one who has the most but one who needs the least." [unknown]

It reminds me that poverty in our eyes can sometimes be a blessing. The things that should hold the most meaning do, and money is seen as just that - money. Not some idol to be worshiped. Not some image to portray. Not some ever-escaping goal to pursue.

Because in reality, enough never seems to be enough in our society. And when we really step back and look at it, we realize the true issue isn't really money at all but instead a heart thing.

Either we're trusting God to provide or we're doubting that He really knows our needs.

Either we're obsessed with finding our identity in what we do to make a living, or we're confident that God is right when He says our identity is only found in Him. That we're made in His image.

Either we need more stuff to fill voids in our lives, or we realize there's only one Jesus who will.

Growing up in the richest country in the world can be both a curse and a blessing I think. We can use what we've been given for God's glory, or we can let it consume and destroy us - our thoughts, our worries, our identity, our friendships, our goals, our time, everything. Someone once told me that our greatest asset can also be our greatest undoing, and I think there's a lot of truth to that.

So instead I pray Proverbs 30:8-9 for myself and our world, "Give us neither poverty nor riches, but give us only our daily bread. Otherwise, we may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or we may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of our God."