Epiphany #3

In my life I have had two different times where there have been world-shattering shifts in my ethos. These shifts were landmark changes in the way I viewed the world around me, as well as myself. I won't go into the causes behind these previous shifts, but personally I view them as more like a "recovery of truth" than any kind of philosophical breakthrough or anything. I say this because the end result put me in a place where I wasn't alone, just in more of a minority than I had been before. In other words, there were plenty others who had made the same journey.

Epiphany#1

My first mind-bending world change came when I discovered Reformed Theology. Someone took the time to sit down with me and show me how my misconceptions were illogical, and how I had misunderstood, or just plain failed to think about the doctrines I thought I believed in. Today, I drink up the teachings of John Piper, and bask in the greatness of the old Reformation writings of John Calvin and Luther, and I feel as if I can say to them with a smile and a wink, "I'm one of you. I get it." There's great security in that.

Not that my ultimate security doesn't come from God alone. I wouldn't be able to say I'm Reformed if I didn't believe that. But nonetheless, there is a comfort in solidly and definitively being able to say I belong because I believe this, and being able to tell you why I believe it. Not dogmatically, not arrogantly, but confidently, intelligently, and gently if asked about what it is I believe.

Epiphany #2

My second world-shift came when I realized that there's more to life than being a Republican or Democrat, more than being conservative or liberal. Television and today's media has made it very hard to come to this realization. Everything is polarized and charged slap full of rhetoric, so much so that there's very little actually being said, much less anything being done. The more this became evident to me, the less I was pleased with my chosen-by-birth political party that had been draped over me my entire life. But looking over the fence to the other side, I saw more of the same. I was not going to be content choosing the lesser of two evils, and so I left all of America's bi-polar disorder behind.

That's not to say that I have become apolitical. On the contrary, I think I've become more political than I was before. I actually feel like again, I know what I believe in and why I believe it, and I can make sense of it, and feel like I know what should be done and what should be said as a result. And again, even though it puts me in a minority, there is comfort and security there. I feel as if I stand on ground which is firm, rather than hang from strings.

Epiphany #3

And so here I am again, on the precipice of epiphany #3. With my doctrinal and political worldviews turned on its head, I stand now bracing myself for a coming storm in the world of the ecclesiastical - how we do church, and why. The turmoil has not yet begun, but it is as if I stand on the plains of my own reality and sniff the air and know a big one is about to let the bottom out. I've been through this twice before, and I remember it vividly. A storm's a' brewin'. The sky is dark and the clouds are churning. I won't take shelter from this one, because this man's parched for truth in this world. And when it rains it pours.

So bring the rain, Lord. Bring it hard. On the other side of the storm, the sky is bright.

Wanna see what's rocked my boat? Here's a good summary of what it's all about.

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