So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

Back in Wake Forest this morning my plan is to decompress from the weekend, debrief, and reflect with gratitude on such experiences of grace, where God’s plans and timing always surprise and delight.

Sunday morning I worshipped with Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church, and spent the “Sunday-school hour” continuing some of the conversations that carried over from Saturday’s men’s event.

I then enjoyed Palma Ceia’s spectacular children’s Bible-camp presentation of “100% Chance of Rain,” the Noah story from Genesis. The symbolism of the rainbow always makes such a profound statement about the wide reach of God’s love and faithfulness. Witnessing such a rainbow literally span the breadth of The Church (capital “T” and capital “C” not accidental), as our denomination wrestles with potentially divisive issues at General Assembly, reminds me that there is room in the family of God for all of us; not despite our disagreements but because of them.

After church I gathered my travel stuff from the super-cool 1928 Seminole Heights bungalow where I was staying, and enjoyed a memorable lunch with my generous host, Michael, and his delightful girlfriend, Tina. We found a Mediterranean sidewalk cafe in downtown Tampa, and there we rounded out the weekend with deep, satisfying conversation.

Rebekah and I say this a lot, but there’s little we enjoy more than a long meal with friends, with time for wide-ranging conversation, where it’s OK to get deep and challenging, and where the presence of God begins to fill the spaces between the words in such a way that you’d swear Jesus was sitting among you. And Jesus was.

I was only in Tampa for 30 hours, but it was rich. The short weekend was a microcosm of this stage of my life in that it was an opportunity to present the good news in such a way that we all grew a little closer to Jesus, we all were encouraged in our journey, and we all were motivated to take more deliberate steps down the road less travelled by.

Fact is, looking back, the weekend turned out to be exactly what I shared in session one, when I talked about developing a personal mission statement. I read mine as an example; it’s just twelve words: “To speak encouragement, hope, faith, and inspiration into this fragmented, broken world.”

May encouragement, hope, faith, and inspiration be ours today, all of us – DEREK