Joe's Journal
July 18, 2008
Friends,
This weekend I will be at Mo Ranch on the
church's annual retreat. The Texas Hill Country is a beautifully unique corner
of God's creation. After our first experience there last year, the Cliffords
were hooked. The highlight of the weekend was celebrating communion at the
outdoor chapel on the hill overlooking the Guadalupe River and the Mo Ranch
campus. It was a little taste of heaven--literally.
(cont.) On Sunday, both in our sanctuary in Dallas
and on the hill at Mo we will be reading Genesis 28 and the story of Jacob's
ladder. Jacob was on his way to Haran to look for a bride. He stopped for the
night in the wilderness and had a dream in which a ramp extended from heaven to
earth with God's angels coming up and going down. Upon waking up, Jacob said he
was standing at heaven's gate and named the place, "Beth-el," which means, "The
House of God."
At Mo Ranch, the surrounding beauty of
God's creation makes it easy to imagine the place as heaven's gate. Truth be
told, heaven's gate can open anywhere, for God's presence is everywhere. From
time to time we have those holy moments when we tune into God's presence in a
special way. Sometimes they happen at a place like Mo Ranch, but they are just
as likely to happen in the sanctuary at FPC, or in the serving line at the
Bridge, or with the wonderful children who come to our day camp each day, or in
a holy moment shared with a loved one.
Such moments are not about location. They
are about vision, the ability to see, to discern the presence of God with us in
the world. In such moments, God does not change, we do. God is no more present
in those moments than in any moment, but our awareness of God's presence makes
the moment holy.
This Sunday, by God's grace, may we meet at
the intersection of heaven and earth; whether we're at Mo Ranch of Harwood and
Young, for both places are holy places, both offer the opportunity for a little
taste of heaven.
In Christ,
Joe