My cousin Carol Lynn sent me an email with breath-taking
pictures of incredible homes designed and built by Michael Jantzen. These homes
are designed responsive to the environment in which they sit: some dangle from
cliff tops, perch on precipices, are dug out of hillsides or nestle in nooks.
Each is unique and oh, so creative.
Some of them grow out of rocky island outcrops which are the
same size as the foundations of the buildings.
Unconventional seems too mild a term even for describing
these homes.
Jesus was not conventional, and maybe unconventional is too
mild a term for the life he led. He wasn’t what my dad would have called a ‘hot
dogger’, drawing attention to himself to enhance his own ego. But neither did
he hide within convention to avoid rocking the boat. If it needed rocking, he
did it. He healed on the sabbath, again and again. He raised women up as equals
and gave them dignity and purpose. He respected children. He defied religious
trappings which had wandered from God’s ways. He befriended the lepers and the
outcasts. He challenged the powerful.
I’m thinking of my own life, and wondering whether I settle
for convention because it is comfortable, doesn’t draw stares and isn’t
challenging to maintain. It’s easy to sit in a granite farmhouse, looking out
at a technicolour autumn, and enjoy God. It’s more taxing to spend time
lobbying for justice and fighting for those who have no options or
opportunities.
Some of Michael Jantzen’s creations are built on rocky
outcrops where there is little except the firm foundation on which they sit.
Today, may my roots be keyed into Jesus, held so firmly in him that I do not
shy away from saying or doing or being whatever is right, is loving, is just
and gracious and merciful. May whatever I do with this day God has given me,
bring a smile to his face and relief to others.
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