Our story

I talked a little last night about living our story. I just want to reiterate that on here today. What kind of story are you living? What kind of story is Refuge living? How are you contributing to that?

The best types of stories are those that set the hero or heroes against long odds. I think about "The Lord of the Rings" or a great Batman story. The hero doesn't think he or she can pull it out. The deck is stacked, the enemy has them surrounded. Just as it seems most bleak, the hero pulls it off.

If we are seeking to be the church in a world that has moved on, we have long odds indeed. We live in a world of contradictions. People want to be in great shape, but they want to drink sodas and eat as much as they want. People want to have clean teeth, but they don't floss.

Most of all, people want true, deep relationships. But they don't want to open up and make themselves vulnerable. People want community, but they don't want the community the make demands of them.

In the Christian world, people want to follow Jesus, but they don't want to follow him to the cross. They want to skip right over Good Friday and get straight to Easter.

It is my hope that at Refuge we will be a community that looks the hard things of life in the face. I hope that we will be unafraid of owning the difficult teachings of the Bible, that we will be unafraid of loving people even if that means arguing with them. I feel like we have come hundreds of miles in only a few months, and I am excited for the other places God takes us.

The other thing about great stories is that they are anything but predictable. Our journey together takes twists that we don't expect, and sometimes we have to just hold on for our lives. But the great thing is that we know we can count on God to pull us through. I'm glad you are all in this story with me, because this story needs a community of heroes, a group to make a difference in the world and in Denver. I know sometimes it might seem like a tough journey. It is. But as Dumbledore tells Harry, we can do what is easy, or we can do what is right.