In this post, you are about to discover two things that will be true about almost all my posts. First they will be short – far shorter than all the recommendations. Why? Because I value your time and want you to be able to fit this into your daily routine.

Secondly, while they may be short, I am only going to pass on to you what has been top of the chart helpful to me because I want them to be helpful to you. Maybe it will be something that you should put in your journal and ponder so that it changes the way you think about God. Maybe it will be something you can help a friend with or use in your teaching and leading.

In college I was a chemistry major partly because words and reading came so hard. I am still not an artist with words. And so in my reading I am always looking for how authors express what I am feeling but can’t put words to. Today I want to share a quote with you from one of the best books I have read this year, Recovering the Real Lost Gospel – Reclaiming the Gospel as Good News, by Darrell Bock. He put into words what so resonates with my heart; “God is on a quest to regain us, not to scold us.” He is after my relationship. He wants me. This went in my journal…and I am sure will wind up in my teaching.

Welcome back to Formed by Grace…and at the same time welcome to Laying it Down, our new name for this blog. Why the name change? Because in this blog, in the podcast that will come live in just a few weeks, and in the resources that I want to make available to you, they will all follow the theme of my book Lay it Down. While the theme will be the same, we’ll be going deeper, adding material and resources, having guest contributors, and most of all, creating a community of like-hearted friends who are who they are because of the grace of God (I Cor 15:10).

In the video below I’ll explain why I took a break, what my goals and standards are for this blog, and then update you on a host of new features.

After I watched the video, I decided I need to make this promise to you: next time I will smile and act like I am alive and enjoying life…because I am! Welcome back and I trust you will find a home here.

Reflecting back on the fire that destroyed 500 homes and left ours standing has not been easy.  My mind wants to make some sense out of what happened…what happened to us and what happened to our friends and neighbors that are left with piles of ash.  But I have decided that trying to make sense out of it all, trying to discover the “whys,” is the wrong path to walk.  The path I am choosing to take focuses on a phrase, a word, and a prayer.

(The fire crossing the road behind us)

First the phrase…and it is not “the grace of God.”  I would have a hard time looking at a foundation full of ashes and saying, “Ah, the grace of God.”  It might be right, but oh so hard.  And so the phrase I have been focusing on is “the will of God.”  This helps me.  I do not need to understand the will of God.

And that brings me to the word that has been helping me, and that word is “mystery.”  The will of God is mysterious and there are many who experience mysteries of God’s will that are far more difficult and painful than a fire. I can live with the mysteries of God’s will because I know God.

And so the prayer.   Just because God’s will for our lives at times is deeply confusing and mysterious, and our hearts long for “whys” that we will never hear, it never diminishes God’s trustworthiness.  No matter how deep and painful the ways he might lead us, he can always be trusted.  And so my prayer is that God will use the twists and turns of his will to deepen my trust in him.