Love's Adventure

Love's Adventure

Scripture: Romans 8: 28ff And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

         Love's adventure invites us to discover how the goodness of God is available to all persons who are learning what it means to love God in all things. There were days when I worked in the inner city that I wondered it this could be true. Many of the persons that we worked with were youth. They were exposed to violence, drugs, promiscuity and family dysfunction even before they came to church for help. These youth were looking for God's love in their chaos. One youth was baptized in hopes that it might bring his parents back together again. Another youth scavenged donations we received from Walmart to sell in order that he might keep his abusive family together. It was the only family he knew.
          One of the favorite songs I made up when I was pastoring in the inner city was about the nature of God's love. I wanted these youth to know that all their barriers could lead to adventure that they had not experienced before. It was the job of our staff to model healthy behavior that would break the bondages that youth were privy to.
"If God is for us Who can be against us"
"If God is for us who can be against us"
"Glory to His name, glory to His name, there to my heart was the blood applied glory to His name."
As Pastor I too want to know what God's Word means when it says all things work together for good. Over time I learned compassion and caring. God's love was greater than I knew. We had hundreds of youth coming to our small church and the community poured out funds our way so that we could minister to their needs. Many of these youth grew to desire a better life and I entered into the fray with parents and community leaders to see how this could be made a reality. Their were classes for youth on how to deal with drugs and alcohol, sexuality, conflict and making healthy foods. Our church had food ministries, a music and arts program, recreation ministries, a pantry and work in the community that might teach the youth other ways to know the good love of God. From an initial impression of brokenness, God showed how with resources how youth could be made whole. "I wonder what I will discover about love's "good" embrace tomorrow"?

          I had not always experienced the adventure of God's good love for myself. Shortly after I received a call from God to pastor I was thrown into a major depression. How could this be one of the good things talked about? This was not a cool thing for a Christian to do in the 70's. Most of the people I knew said that anyone that is depressed and suicidal could not be a Christian. For the space of four months I could not get rid of thoughts that made me think the end was not more than a breath away. The only thing that kept me from killing myself was that I was too scared to die and too scared to live. Where is the depth of God's good love working together, when a person does not feel loved? When I was ready all kinds of people came to my aid. There were doctors, counselors, social workers and teachers who looked for love's adventure to reveal how God worked for the good in a person who thought God may have made a mistake.

          Over the years I have watched God answer the question about how God can work all things for the good over and over again. There were people who were dealing with cancer, mentally and physically handicapped, along with people I have not met. With all this in mind I look forward to lessons learned by entering the arena of good's potential to see how true God's love is.

         Just recently God introduced me to a philosophical Satanist at work. I did know there was any such thing until I looked it up on Wikapedia. It a counter cultural group that is hedonistic in nature. Other people who worked with him said that whatever you do don't tell him you are a minister. I was not to be deterred. After working togehter for several months he wanted to know why I wanted to be a minister. He could not understand how God was any use. "God only causes pain". I shared with him how my brokenness/pain lead me to see a God who could work all things for the good. He was speechless at what I had to say. It opened the way to share more in the days ahead. I invite one and all to know how great God's love is. For God so loved the WORLD!! See for yourself that God works all things for the good to those who are learning to love God more and more each day.
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