FLOOD

place compton flood mta125-2
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

I don't remember which winter, but a year or so ago Compton CA flooded. I happened to be riding home on the MTA125 Rosecrans bus that night and we drove through it. I realize this is nothing compared to floods in other places, but I was awed by the close-up view of the power of water.

The culprit here, if I remember correctly, was poor drainage. The water was coming in fast and leaving very slowly. Life gets that way much too often. Stressors come quickly and leave slowly. We fill our days and nights with as many things as we can. Sabbath gets set aside--there is no time to rest; nevermind that rest is a command. Spending time with fellow believers gets set aside or programmed into dutiful gatherings. Good intentions get set aside and too much of service and ministry remains in an unfulfilled dream state. In our busyness we neglect each other and our lives are less.

Over at Da'ath,, Jeff asks an excellent question on christians working together: Da`ath: Believers Working Together. I work at Biola, I lead the college ministry at TFB, I play in the worship band, and I attend Talbot, and, honestly, I haven't seen very much working together either. Has the busyness of our lives so disconnected us? And, being so disconnected, can we still say that we are ecclesia--the gathering? Maybe not.


A quote from today's Advent devotion at Following the Star raised a question for me:

"I want never to forget that your coming created a home for righteousness that will never let me feel ultimately at home in this world again. Amen."

If Christ's coming created a home for righteousness, why do we so marginalize righteousness that it becomes 'special behaviors' instead of living together before God? If we are not at home in this world, why does it distract us so?

What follows from this, I do not know, for I too am distracted from the dailies of life. Time flies away and the flood of routine stress remains.