Last week in Part 1, I offered the realization that I’ve been in a wilderness time lately. I also shared some insights I’ve gained on the wilderness theme with the help of a book called The Land Between by Jeff Manion.
Here are the rest of my takeaways about journeying through the wilderness.
I just finished a really good book called The Land Between by Jeff Manion. It’s the best book I’ve read in a while. It’s also probably the best book I’ve ever read on the wilderness/desert theme in Scripture. Okay, it’s also probably the first.
The main reason the book resonates with me is because I think I’ve been in a wilderness period lately myself, particularly in my church planting work with Storyline.
When we moved into our first house three years ago, my parents bought us a baby live oak tree as a house-warming present. My dad came over and we planted it in the front yard together. We drove stakes into the ground and tied supports to the tree to keep it from falling over. It was probably 7-8 feet tall at the time.
I was pretty excited.
I’ve been reflecting lately on experiencing breakthrough in ministry – what it takes to really grow and thrive as a church, and how to know if we are cooperating with God so that breakthrough can happen.
Tim Keller provides a helpful discussion on how to evaluate ministry effectiveness in his new book Center Church that speaks to the topic of breakthrough.
In the end, however, I believe his discussion falls short.
A few weeks ago I wrote about how pain, frustration and distraction are normal elements of spiritual growth. Unfortunately, when many of us experience these struggles in our spiritual journey we think that something is wrong with us and so we disengage. For some it turns into a cycle of engaging and disengaging. We get stuck in this rut and miss out on the spiritual breakthrough that comes when we persevere through the struggle.
Lately I’ve been reflecting on this dynamic through the lens of the 3DM Lifeshape, the Square. It offers some guidance for what to do when we’re feeling stuck. I think it’s a helpful tool whether you’re feeling stuck in your professional growth, in parenting, in your marriage, or in your relationship with God.
In the Storyline 