Chris Maxwell's Newsletter

Another Day Along the Way
Friday, June 22, 2007

Another day,
The song from years ago confessed my thoughts this way: "It's been quite a year." And, for my family, quite a year it has been.

Since the first Sunday in June of last year, so much has changed. As I preached that goodbye sermon to our dear friends in Orlando, my family and I didn't know what would occur from that June to this one. A year later and a life so different, I glance back and stare forward. I smile, I shake my head, I think, I pray. I nod, knowing we made the correct choice and trusted the right voice.

We miss our son Taylor and his wife Brittany. Seeing them in Atlanta a few weeks ago reminded Debbie and me again how much we miss them. And also how proud of them we are. Though they pulled for the Cubs, their "Braves-loving" Daddy didn't mind. We were together.

Though Aaron and Graham are still our sons, they are so much older. This one year has made them appear to be much more adult than our parental mindsets easily accept. Though we all move in so many different directions, we are - sometimes - together.

Time together is crucial. That is how I feel about our friends from Orlando and our friends here in Georgia. About my Emmanuel College friends and my Faith Cafe friends. About my cell phone friends and my email friends. About family, classmates from my own younger years, students in college, pastors, strangers, and a world of lonely, busy, hurt, uncertain people. Not waiting for time, but making time is crucial. To meet, to talk, to watch a game, to spend too much on hot dogs, to watch a movie, to travel, to listen, to laugh, to cry. Crucial.

A friend recently asked me about Faith Cafe. He said, "This curriculum seems much more honest and real than anything our church has used before." He wasn't sure how I would take that. My response? I said, "Thank you."

We want curriculum to invite lifetime learners into that experience I label as crucial: time together. Studying together in order to build community, to display authenticity, to pursue spiritual formation, and to act out our beliefs in service to others - to me, that is the Bible alive. Truth in action. Doctrine to go. Amid our doubts, mistakes, decisions, and makeup - we can move forward together instead of isolating ourselves in this stormy world of Junes so similar and years so unique.

We can eat chilli dawgs together. Or, go on diets together. We can hear music together. Or, be silent together. We can seek to know deep truth together. Or, learn news ways to finally apply old truth together. We can go to ball games and movies together. Or, visit a foreign land and experience the challenge of change together.

I experienced it again Tuesday night. Chatting in a spiritual gathering to a group of college and high school students, we talked about Paul's instructions for us to "press on." We can, rather than staying stuck as we've always been, move. Not geographically. Spiritually. Not as an escape to avoid. As a growth spurt toward maturity. But we should not press on alone. Time together is crucial for the experience we crave, we need, we desire.

So, as another June comes and goes and as our own life experiences move us in various ventures, let's live as a Faith Cafe experience. Honest and real. Pressing on together. Making time together a priority. And living the life in service to others.

To me, it sounds like a family at a game or at a meal. To me, it sounds like a Savior on a boat or in a house. He told others to come. They came to Him and they often came together. Let us go there. Together.

Along the way,
Chris Maxwell

Powerful Statement: It takes a breeze to make a banner speak.
(Calvin Miller, The Song)

Another Day Along the Way
Friday, June 01, 2007

Another day,
We boarded a plane on May 15. As twenty students, faculty, and staff flew from Atlanta to London, time flew faster. Five hours came up missing. An eight hour flight convinced the clock that we had been in the air for thirteen.

While in a land new to us, much more changed than just the time. Hoping to bring change through music, drama, testimonies, sermons, prayer, invitations, meals, visitations, interviews, discussions, church services, and acts of kindness, God chose to do more than allow us the honor of being among those bringing change. He picked us to be among those being changed.

Isn't that God's tricky plan when we seek to serve others? Away from home, out of our comfort zones, and desiring to encourage people as we meet them for the first time, we meet God. He informs us about true home. He teaches us how to let Him be our actual Comfort Zone. He encourages us to meet Him anew. Away from the home of ourselves and our addictions, we can do that - we can meet God.

Fifteen days with friends thrilled me. Building relationships with strangers fascinated me. Observing teamwork excited me. Staring at green land, mountains, water, rabbits, sheep, cities, towns, clouds, rain, trains, and streets amazed me. Communicating beliefs to those who seek to live without truth motivated me. Realizing God chooses to show His truth through sinners humbled me.

Meeting God changed me.

Church services on the trip? Orthodox, traditional, contemporary, ancient, new, energetic, experiential, calm, exciting. Walks? Long, long, long walks. Rides? Into London, through London, from London to Scotland, in cars, on trains, through hills, on very small streets. Prayers? Walking, talking, whispering, confessing, requesting. Worship? Stillness, celebrations, awe. Friendships? Time together in a land so new, so fresh, so real.

We boarded a plane to return from Scotland on May 30. During that westward dance through clouds, time stopped. Five hours waited and waited and waited before time began again. I thought, "Haven't we all wanted a little more time?"

The mission trip taught us about time. Not wasting it. Choosing to use it wisely and in new ways. Living through time for God. Not for ourselves.

So, whatever time and place, let us receive God's grace. During long walks, rainy days, or flight delays. During lovely sunlight, an early sunrise, or times when luggage feels too heavy to carry one more step, let us carry on. Let us experience God. The greatest way to do so is by serving others. At home, in the neighborhood, or five time zones away.

I think, "Don't we all need a little more time spent like that?"

Along the way,
Chris Maxwell

Powerful Statement: The key is the try to be an agent of transformation, rather than being complacent.
(Seeking the Face of God, Gary L. Thomas)