Introducing Radically Altered

There was a time in my life where I attempted to fill the vast emptiness of my soul with anything and everything you could imagine. In 1997, I found myself at the end of my rope with only one way to turn...it was the way that I had avoided for the better part of 15 years. As I began to discover recovery, in many senses of the word, I began to long for more than I was finding in the smoke filled meeting rooms that I was becoming so familiar with. I found that something more at a remarkable little place in Houston called Mercy Street. It was there that I began to experience a radically altered life...a life in Jesus Christ.

I have now been clean and sober for almost 11 years (June 5th will by my 11th anniversary). My wife and I have been together for more than 7 years (married for more than 6 of those). My dad and I have been reconciled for more than 5 years. I now have a daughter of my own and more blessings in my life than I can count (friends that I can count on, a me that my friends can count on, a roof over my head, hobbies, and an extended family that is as amazing as it is large)...and this just scratches the surface of how God has radically altered my life.

Radically altered is what I believe God wants for each of us. When Jesus touched the leper he healed the leper's physical ailments, but he didn't stop there. A man that hadn't been touched since he was pronounced unclean had, in the instant of his physical cleaning and restoration, been also restored socially...to be counted among the clean...to be touched and hugged and connected once again. The once leprous man was commanded to go to the high priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses suggested to where he could be restored in his faith and community as well. A single touch offered restoration and wholeness...spiritual, physical, emotional, and communal wholeness! There was no part of the leper's life that Jesus was going to leave not radically altered!

Radically altered is what I believe God wants for his church too. We were not given the gift of the Spirit to try and move forth on our own steam. We were not sent this Wonderful Counselor to have his voice buried in committee meetings. The power of our witness and the effectiveness of the Church (when I use a capital "C" I am referring to the universal church) is dependent upon God's presence and ongoing gifts of grace...our effectiveness and witness are dependent upon our being continuously and radically altered.

That's the purpose of this blog...to explore what it means to be radically altered by Jesus Christ. At times I will take a topical approach with life issues or church issues or issues raised in books that I am reading and ask where God is at work and how God is attempting to radically alter us as individuals and as the Church. At other times I will explore the scriptures in search of the Gospel's radically life altering message of hope...a hope that is far more than a get into heaven free card...a hope that is tied to the current in-breaking of the kingdom of God...a hope that will turn our faith and our churches on their ears...a hope that continues to be fulfilled in deep, meaningful, and transformative ways!

I invite you to join me on this journey of faith and of life.

Shalom,

Russell