This weekend Rebekah and I have been engaged in some serious visioning regarding our home and our garden (and some serious digging too). We’ve lived here nine months now, and we’re getting enough of a feel for the new MaulHall that we’re ready to take some serious steps in terms of transformation.

One thing we knew going in: this time we weren’t going to wait 13-plus years before we made the move from vision to implementation! Something’s got to give. Outside it’s pretty-much everything – and inside it looks like it’s going to be the kitchen; well, for starters at least; there’s no telling what’s going to happen on down the road.

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:5-6)

Sometimes when I look at what we’re up to at home, I see it as a striking metaphor for A) my personal life of faith, and B) the church community where we serve. In fact, I often joke that a PNC (pastor search team) would do well to visit the prospective preacher’s home – and also take a good look at the garden. Not that the home and garden should be pristine, but that they reveal a lot about vision, imagination, and commitment.

The garden is where Rebekah nurtures her creativity, and takes long, deep breaths in her connection with God; the kitchen is where we nurture our life together. Little gives me so much joy as serving Rebekah a cup of tea at the table in the bay-window and watching her relax as I prepare our food for dinner.

Both are venues where we read our morning devotional together. At the moment we’re deep into a book that samples Henri Nouwen’s work, and builds off a rich collection of scriptures.

HOME: Just like the new MaulHall, we’re beginning to feel solidly at home at Wake Forest Presbyterian Church. We’re excited about the possibilities for the future because we know we serve a God who is constantly in the business of “making all things new…”

God is calling all of us to re-imagine, to believe, to dig and plant and get our hands dirty, to let what’s broken go, to throw ourselves into the work of restoration, to engage what is possible with creativity and with hard work, and to move into the future – because the future is always the direction that God leads.

I’m really excited about what is possible, and about where we are going with God.

• Am I talking about our home? Yes.
• Am I talking about our personal lives? Yes.
• Am I talking about Wake Forest Presbyterian Church? you’d better believe it.

“In the name of the one that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24).

– DEREK