On Thursday I was shocked to hear about a Tornado ripping through a part of West Auck-land that is very close to where I grew up. Tragically this event took the lives of three peo-ple. Then, I heard on the radio news that Ngongotaha, Rotorua (where our house is) was also hit by a Tornado - unfortunately it didn't take our sinking house away and solve that problem (visions of flying house in "Wizard of Oz").
As close to home as those events felt for me at the time, I didn't think that they would directly affect me. I was wrong. Early Friday morning I got a phone call from AirNZ (yes, you heard right...they called me!), saying that my early flight from New Plymouth to Auck-land was cancelled due to backlog following the storm in Auckland. I am now going to be late for my Mission Council meetings (doh!). You may remember a couple of months ago I wrote a blurb about waiting at airports - the wait continues...
Unexpected things happen all the time. We are affected by the consequences of things that we might have never anticipated. Chaos theory talks about a "butterfly effect", where small changes can cause large events. Of course the tornado wasn't a small thing, and it caused change to a relatively small event (my flight), but still the truth is that it was something that affected me in ways I didn't expect.
So what am I trying to get at here? Well, I think it's important that we notice the connections: between things; between people, between events. When we take notice of the connections then we can observe the way in which God has stitched this Universe together - no matter how hard we might try to be independent, the truth is that we're connected!
When we notice the connections we find that there are opportunities to share how the Good News of Jesus connects to every story; how God's Master plan of restoration affects every one; how the Holy Spirit is wooing us all into relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
So open your eyes and look for the connections. Notice the cause and affect. Identify the chain reactions. Look out for God at work in transforming lives through the big things and the little things.
Blessings, Pastor David Auty.
As close to home as those events felt for me at the time, I didn't think that they would directly affect me. I was wrong. Early Friday morning I got a phone call from AirNZ (yes, you heard right...they called me!), saying that my early flight from New Plymouth to Auck-land was cancelled due to backlog following the storm in Auckland. I am now going to be late for my Mission Council meetings (doh!). You may remember a couple of months ago I wrote a blurb about waiting at airports - the wait continues...
Unexpected things happen all the time. We are affected by the consequences of things that we might have never anticipated. Chaos theory talks about a "butterfly effect", where small changes can cause large events. Of course the tornado wasn't a small thing, and it caused change to a relatively small event (my flight), but still the truth is that it was something that affected me in ways I didn't expect.
So what am I trying to get at here? Well, I think it's important that we notice the connections: between things; between people, between events. When we take notice of the connections then we can observe the way in which God has stitched this Universe together - no matter how hard we might try to be independent, the truth is that we're connected!
When we notice the connections we find that there are opportunities to share how the Good News of Jesus connects to every story; how God's Master plan of restoration affects every one; how the Holy Spirit is wooing us all into relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
So open your eyes and look for the connections. Notice the cause and affect. Identify the chain reactions. Look out for God at work in transforming lives through the big things and the little things.
Blessings, Pastor David Auty.
RSS Feed
