The Gathering

I lied.  There, I confessed.

I was at the dentist for my six month cleaning.  They took an x-ray.  There was concern about one of my teeth.  So they showed me the x-ray from six months back.  The dentist flipped back and forth between the two.

Dentist- “Do you see this dark space at the root?  See how it is slightly bigger now.  I know it is a little hard to see the difference.  Can you see it?”

Me- “No, but I trust you.”

I saw it.

I had not been to the dentist for years until last February.  I knew there were some problems.  What I didn’t know was I would be going back 3 times in the following month to take care of 6-8 cavities.  It was during one of those visits that I asked about one of my front bottom teeth that was darker than the rest.  I wondered if there was something they could do.  The dentist checked it out by doing a “cold test.”  In essence, this is freezing your tooth and seeing if you shriek in pain.  I didn’t feel a thing.  The tooth is dead.

Dentist- “Eventually that tooth is going to cause you problems.  We will monitor it.  As far as the color, we can do a root canal and bleach it from the inside.”

Me- “I will wait.”

I will be having a root canal in September.  The good news is that the tooth is dead so I “probably won’t feel a thing.”  Probably.  I decided I couldn’t wait any longer.  And  just so you know, it isn’t because of vanity.  While it is try my tooth will be lighter, that is not why I am having it done.

When I was shown the x-ray they also pointed out how close another tooth was to this one.  The roots look like they are almost touching.  The fear is that the infection/problem could spread… and ruin a perfectly good tooth.

Hmm.  Isn’t life like that?  Sometimes we think we can compartmentalize our lives.  We think our health doesn’t effect our marriage.  Our work doesn’t effect our rest.  And none of it effects following Jesus.  We are so wrong.

If there is part of your life that is a mess, is broken, is ill- take care of it today before it spreads.

I find myself wondering…

When does the familiar become problematic?
When does routine move past comforting stability to mundane monotony?

There is good when things are the same:

• Smells that recall former days.
• The way a well worn charm just “fits.”
• The pillow that remembers the shape of your head.
• Arms that have held you a million and one times.

But there is also danger:

• Fighting for the status quo when it is suffocating the life out of everyone.
• Accepting this moment in the journey as the destination instead of merely a rest stop.*
• Ignoring that things change- in spite of all the signs to the contrary/in spite of the danger.

If we are going to move from here to there…

from shallow to deep…

from today to tomorrow…

Then we must leave the familiar, the comfortable, the quotidian- all of it must be left behind.

* This image hit me while writing.  Imagine you are on a long road trip.  Not from Muncie to Indy- no long.  Not from here to Holiday World- no longer.  Let’s say from here to the Grand Canyon.  You have been driving for hours and hours and by now it feels like days and days.  For the first time on the trip someone has to go to the bathroom and tells you before the exit for a rest stop.  So you stop.

Now this isn’t one of those fancy rest stops.  You know the ones with St. Arbucks, and clean restrooms and a shoe shine guy.  No, this rest stop is a relic from another time.  It is the type where you share the stall with bugs you cannot even identify.

Imagine that some friendly person introduces himself to you…

Where are you coming from?

We are from Muncie, heading to the Grand Canyon.  (You answer assuming he works at the station.)  Where are you from?

Here.

Here?

Yes, I was on a long road trip once- to the Grand Canyon as a matter of fact- and I got tired of driving.  This place was nicer than my car, more comfortable than more miles on the road, so I just stopped.

Absurd right?  What if I told you this rest stop was 30 miles from the Grand Canyon?  Even crazier?

I think we do this though- as people and churches.  We get to a new “place” in our lives and it is better than where we have been.  We are tired from the journey.  Worn out from the hard work of change.  And we except a rest stop as our final destination.

Rest stops can be nice, but they were only ever supposed to be sops along the way.  The final destination is better.  Trust me.

Let’s hit the road.