40 Posts in 40 Days | Day 18

Experiencing Life Together
Originally Written Sept. 3, 2009
No reading today.

Point to Ponder:

• I need others in my life.
  

Question to Consider:

• What one step could I take today to connect with another believer at a more genuine, heart-to-heart level?
  

Well, this is another area where it seems Quest has it exactly right. Regardless of what else may come of me undertaking this 40-day experiment, I'm definitely going to come out the other side with a deeper understanding of and appreciation for my church.

My Life Group is the exact embodiment of everything Pastor Warren describes in today's chapter. And an underlying philosophy of "doing life together" is taken straight from the Bible.

If I could only use one word to describe my Life Group, "authenticity" would definitely be it. For a group of guys put together by someone at the Church who didn't even know all of us, it's amazing how quickly and solidly we gelled into a cohesive group. Every one of us - even me - brings something different to the table. I look forward eagerly to our time together every week.

I'm not exactly the most outgoing person in any sort of group setting, and I'll readily admit that. I'm used to being described as "quiet," or (my favorite) a sponge. At least, I've chosen to think of that in a positive, "soaking up knowledge" sort of way.

Anyhow, I'm not usually the first in a group setting to "open up." However, on the first night my Life Group met (our first 'real' meeting, not the first evening when we all went for Mexican) I made what was for me a very bold and extremely uncharacteristic move - I announced to my group that I'm not sure where I stand on the whole religion thing, and that I categorize myself as a seeker. I think it surprised some of them (why would you sign up for a Life Group is you're still seeking?), but in all honesty it couldn't possibly have surprised them as much as it did me.

I love the idea of the Life Group as a bigger variation of the cells in our bodies, and as cellular components of the body of Christ. I was reminded of a fractal - a Mendelbrott set, actually - during tonight's reading. The idea, specifically, that you can pick out a distinct pattern, zoom out to see that pattern being used to make a bigger version of the same patter, zoom out to see that pattern forming an even larger version of the same pattern, and so on ad infinitum. I had a small computer program once that let you do that, and playing with it always made me fell somehow significant - a small part making up a whole, I suppose. Maybe this is why.