Context

I love to walk, talk, and be with individuals on their first visit within the last three years to New York.  New York, like many great cities in the world, is constantly changing.  Yesterday’s hot spots are not.  Unknown neighborhoods are up and coming.  Everything is the same yet it is radically different. 
 
The key to a city is context.  When I go to Singapore, I know the buildings are constantly undergoing renovation, renewal, and replacement.  I don’t try to remember.  What I look for is landmarks; specifically gardens, parks, and walkways.  They have remained constant for more than four decades!  In New York, there will always be a Times Square and Central Park.  What is critical, if one wants to experience the heart of the city, is to approach everything with a fresh, open, and willing to be experience spirit.
 
A decade ago, you would come to New York thinking of art and fashion galleries in SoHo, innovative restaurants in Tribeca, and something emerging in Chelsea.  Today you will find the best art galleries in Chelsea, cutting-edge fashion on the Lower East Side, and a new world emerging downtown.  There are great restaurants in every neighborhood, although some chefs and owners seem to like to hide themselves. 
 
I find myself taking comfort in the fact that I know my neighborhoods.  I can find myself in Redlands, New York, or London and I feel at home.  Yet my assumptions are based on yesterday, not the present.  There is a fresh context, the moment at hand that I am potentially missing.
 
When it comes to God, we, you and I, need to examine yesterday’s assumptions.  God hasn’t changed but the context in which Divinity operates has!  How God works is constantly evolving to meet the needs and opportunities in this world.  We should heed some old advice, “Why, the nations are but a drop in a bucket, a mere smudge on a window.  Watch him sweep up the islands like so much dust off the floor!”  (Isaiah 40.15)  See God working, in this moment.  Experience God, now.