Stretched Beyond Recognition

  Currently there are piles of books around my room. At first there were piles because I ran out of bookshelf space, but with that problem temporarily resolved, I now have piles on different topics. A pile on church membership. Another on visioning. Another on world religions. One on ministering to those with cancer. Yet another on group spiritual direction. You get the image, piles.

  The first book from the visioning pile I picked up was Andy Stanley's Visionerring: God's Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Vision. I'm glad it was the first because it was wonderful, full of both scriptural insight, but also practical exercise, as one of the churches I serve prepare to engage in an intentional period of visioning together.

  Stanley uses the biblical text of Nehemiah to talk about leaders with a God-sized, God-ordained vision. At one point the author comments that "Nehemiah's faith was stretched beyond recognition." (65). What a concept! That we grow so much in our faith that others don't recognize us. That we might not even recognize ourselves. But its a scary thought. To be stretched.

  When my brothers were little they had a stretch armstrong doll. If I understand correctly when you stretch the figure out, it should return to its original shape, but I don't remember it ever really doing that. It would sort of return to its shape, but each time you stretched it more, it returned a little less. I think that's what we are afraid of. First, stretching and growing, because its painful and secondly, being stretched beyond recognition. Even if we don't fully like who we are, we know ourselves. We feel comfortable in our own familiarity. But being stretched beyond recognition is almost as scary as starting over again. Its not familiar. Daunting.

   But its in these moments when we are stretched and grow in our faith that we know and recognize that God is doing amazing things. Because its not our natural disposition to stretch ourselves. We are spiritually comfortable. Lazy. We like the thought of growing in the abstract but not so much when you have to put in the dedicated time and painful work. But God blesses the work. Not by leaving us the same way we were, but stretching us beyond recognition, if only we are willing to take a risk of faith.