Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Back in June of 1983, when Rebekah was almost ten months into her first year of ministry, she was told that summer would slow everything down around the church: “You wait and see,” they said; “most preachers only work part-time during July and August.”

That was 31 years ago; we’re still waiting for that lull.

There is a lot going on. Always. And if church wasn’t full enough, we’ve got a few projects cooking around the house too.

GARDEN PROGRESS: We have a nice back garden area, but – visually – it’s just a little too closed in. So Rebekah – who loves to play with power tools – had the bright idea of removing the top half of the fence and then replacing it with horizontal slats. We’re experimenting with the pattern, and of course the final product will be stained. But so far I’m pleased about the progress; Rebekah has a tremendous sense of vision and an ability to see the big picture.

Changing the line of sight at the back of the property immediately created a new visual aspect that nobody has ever seen before. I really like that. I’m captured by the idea that the whole house can now – in a sense – be different, simply because we’ve opened up another point of view. Hmmm…

Scout, of course, enjoys being in the middle of anything that’s going on (there she is, on the back side of the fence). She doesn’t have to be doing anything, it’s just enough to be there. Behind her, I’ve opened up a pathway that leads to the street that runs behind our home. Again, a simply shift in terms of access serves to redefine the entire property. It’s exactly the same house, but it’s already so different.

P.O.V.  It’s interesting how a re-calibrated point of view, or simply standing in another position, or looking at things from a new angle, can – potentially – change everything. Why are we so often unwilling to see things from someone else’s vantage point? Why are we unwilling to even take a peek? Is it because we’re scared that the way things appear from the new perspective may well make all the difference?

For me, taking time to see things through someone else’s eyes isn’t a compromise, it’s an opportunity. The truth of a thing isn’t changed by a fresh look; but the view may well force me to confront my own prejudices and distortions.

Then quite often I find out that – previously – I really hadn’t been seeing that clearly at all.

– DEREK