Yesterday was one of those bittersweet moments in life as it concluded a chapter for my family and I. It was my last Sunday on staff at The Gathering Place. A place I have worked at and served for the past ten years. A place where my family and I received healing, new life, new relationships, new direction and vision. I don’t think I have fully absorbed the moment but I am sure it will hit me fully in the coming days.
This new chapter of my life following Jesus involves great adventure, risk, danger, chaos, uncertainty — and I am really excited about that! Starting a business in this economy when many established business are failing and a new church when many are shuttering their doors, sounds like lunacy. I would tend to agree if I hadn’t heard clearly from the Lord to move in this direction.
Some of my favorite church bloggers have taken a leap in to the unknown at this time. Ben Arment, Carlos Whittaker and Tony Morgan have all left secure positions with amazing organizations to follow Jesus’ call and their passion. The beat of God’s kingdom doesn’t march to the same beat as the one of this world. Jesus beckons us out of comfort, safety, security and our sanitized environments to follow him.
Alan Hirsch recently unpacked a series of posts dealing with Living Systems Theory, change and chaos theory and its correlations to the church and spiritual movements. He cited this on living systems:
Nature is at its innovative best near the edge of chaos. The edge of chaos is a condition, not a location. It is a permeable, intermediate state through which order and disorder flow, not a finite line of demarcation. Moving to the edge of chaos creates upheaval but not dissolution; that’s why being on the edge is so important. The edge is not the abyss. It’s the sweet spot for productive change. And when productive agitation runs high, innovation often thrives and startling breakthroughs can come about. This elusive, much sought after, sweet spot is sometimes called ‘a burning platform.’ The living sciences call it the edge of chaos.”
Surf the edge of chaos, follow Jesus wherever he leads you — that is the sweet spot! When we stay in our safe zones, we lose that which makes us most like God, our creativity. He is the Creator, and out of chaos he created inexpressible beauty.
I would ask my friends to pray for us for the following:
Surfin’ the edge of chaos!
Now after having received my degree in theology through the University of Hard Knocks I’ve learned a little bit about wisdom. After many years of praying for it, I came to realize she is simply a summation of the experiences God allows in our lives, unfortunately many of those early experiences were lost on me. So as you surf that ‘permeable, intermediate’ edge of chaos, I pray you will relish every experience God allows in your lives.
The title of this article, “Surfing the Edge of Chaos” makes much more sense as its title then many might know. Being a surfer myself, I know the “edge of chaos” is the ideal place for the best waves possible, and right where every surfer wants to be. When everything is calm and serene, there are absolutly no waves (i.e., don’t bring your board to Clearwater Beach). But when a catagory 4 hurrican is sitting about 200 miles off the coast, you will see blue skys, light off-shore winds, and the most amazing huge waves ever.
But if that hurrican comes onshore, forget about it. The idea is to stay on the edge of chaos, not in the middle of it. If we will follow Christ’s leading for our lives, staying grounded thourgh God’s word, we will experinece everything he has for us. We just have to put our trust in Him and Him alone. Thanks Dan for the great encouragement!
JT
Surfing the edge of chaos sounds fun….I’ve been driving by a few beaches and waiting for God to tell me which wave to ride!