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I’ve been struck this week by how complex and varied North Carolina is this time of the year. Sunday afternoon the temps reached 81-degrees, Monday night featured a good freeze, Wednesday was the more typical wintery 45 and rainy, then – today at 10:00 in the morning – it’s a picture perfect 41-degrees with brilliant sunshine.
It’s easy to forget that “average” regional temperatures are nothing more than a statistical construct, with little or no bearing on what any actual moment in time might look like.
One of the great themes of my writing is that of constantly inspiring anyone willing to listen to be anything but average in the way they live. However, and a lot like believing a climate model should be able to predict today’s weather, we allow ourselves to become consistently conformed to the expected, to the extent that “the way things are” unreasonably limits us, dulls our imaginations, and often holds more sway than our commitment to live as followers of the living way of Jesus.
We allow ourselves to become consistently conformed to the expected, to the extent that “the way things are” unreasonably limits us, dulls our imaginations, and often holds more sway than our commitment to live as followers of the living way of Jesus.
So I’ll wrap this short post by quoting Paul in his letter to the Colossians. He, too, was concerned that his friends were forgetting their primary commitment to follow Jesus. “If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, then why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?” (Colossians 2:20-23)
Our opportunity – as disciples – is to move out of the restrictive, constrictive realm of “normal,” and to live truly extraordinary lives as followers of Jesus. Our calling is to be subversive for Jesus.
In love, and because of love – DEREK
(So here are a few fun photos from this week – enjoy!)
