outWORD by Matte Downey

Image from call-of-hope.com I am reading through the book of Acts. It is an account of the beginnings of the early Christian church. It is jam-packed with adventure, action, and amazing stories. Take Acts 16 for example. The summary or thesis statement of this chapter could be identified in this sentence in verse 5: "Day after day the congregations became stronger in faith and larger in size." But what exactly does "becoming stronger and larger" look like in practice? Not quite the continuous upward trajectory that we might envision. The details are found in the remainder of the chapter. 1. Paul and Silas set out on a journey to spread the good news of Jesus.  2. They plan to go into Asia province but the Holy Spirit blocks them (really?). 3. They try to go north to Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus won't let them go there either. 4. So they go on to Troas and there Paul has a dream in which a Macedonian says, "Come over and help us!" 5.

Image from beforeitsnews.com For the past few days, I have been struck by how imperfect the world is and how imperfect we as people are. I am also amazed at how beautiful it all is and how beautiful we all are, despite our imperfections. I have been thinking about this paradox in relation to two issues. One is the offense that certain Christians are taking to the red Starbucks holiday cup because of its lack of holiday symbols. There are those who would boycott the chain because of a perception that the company is anti-Christian. On the beautiful side of the equation, there are those who have suggested that instead of boycotting the chain, we might take someone out for coffee or pay for the person in line behind us. (An article summarising some of the controversy can be found  here ). Another article I read in recent days critiques Operation Christmas Child run by Samaritan's Purse (you can find it here ). It cites several problems with this project and the organisation in