Often, I’ve found, as a writer and a Christian, God puts me in situations which, if I attempted to pass them off in my fiction (still unpublished but getting there… slowly), would seem way too perfect to be believed — far too ‘coincidental’ and fruitful. Another characteristic of such situations, I’ve found, is that the contextualization required to understand their profundity and personal significance just wouldn’t ‘work’ for a larger audience.

The background set-up required to have them make sense wouldn’t move the action along fast enough for most modern tastes or genres. There are also so many such moments, I realize, that one could make a vocation out of chronicling them and in so doing become a hermit and fail to live. Some of them I now simply smile at, figuring I’ll have time to blog them in heaven (though I suspect that there, blogs won’t be necessary — perhaps a good thing!)

So, a little set-up… I’ll try to keep it short.

This guy friend comes into my life a few years ago. Relationship develops and his personal witness helps me understand God and faith and myself and the Bible much more deeply and (I am told) the feeling is mutual. He gets engaged and I feel called (after being invited, that is) to attend the wedding in Kansas (one of just a handful of states I’ve never been to). I show up and the wedding service is one of the very best I’ve ever attended (aside from my own, that is)… the kind that really makes you think and pray and reflect and thank God for your own marriage and for how amazing God is to have the foresight to give us institutions like that. (And no, for you political policy junkies, this is not heading where you might think it is.)

Thing is, I know nobody there except the groom and, very casually, his mom and dad and the bride. And despite any impressions readers may have formed from this blog, I’m mostly an introvert. Going out drains energy. Meeting new people can be anxiety-inducing. Oh, sure, I can mimic extroversion for a phone call or an evening or even, for work, a few days when I’m facilitating an executive workshop, but when I really need to recharge my batteries I do things like backpacking in a remote corner of Wyoming with family or alone for a week. I’m hardly a hermit. I can do the social thing. I just don’t seek it out.

So I walk into this ballroom where they’re holding the reception and, because it’s a big facility, and because I got lost on the way over there from the church, and because I know almost no one, and because it’s taking my eyes a few minutes to adjust to the low lighting, I’m not even sure I’m at the right wedding… which doesn’t stop me from making a bee-line for the bar for some Chardonnay.   

So I sit down at this random table (no assigned seating) and, come to find out, the individuals sitting to either side of me are basically the most perfect people I could have imagined getting to know. Not just one or two things, but just this crazy-’Godincidence’ “Thank you, Jesus! I know you’re here and that you’re looking out for me and that you put these people next to me for a reason for all of our sakes — and yours — and that I made the right decision to come” kind of perfect. (If you’ve never experienced it, just trust me, it’s like a can of Red Bull for your faith. No earthly party planner is even close to this good.)

The guy on my right and I have at least half a dozen major life things in common. Gal on my left, sitting next to her fiance, is also a perfect fit conversationally, for several big things that are important to me and that I love to talk about (writing among them). The three of us get going talking — mostly about theology — to the point that the other folks at the table realize they’re on their own. The three of us are almost irritated when the band starts up. The time just flies and we’re exchanging business cards and lists of books and podcasts and websites and I’ve totally forgottten I’m 1,500 miles from home and that, just a few hours ago, I knew nobody. I had more to talk about with these folks than I do with 90% of the people in my home town, maybe more.

That was all set-up for this close.

The material they turned me onto has substantially increased my understanding of faith, God, Jesus and the Bible and really opened my eyes. Depending on where you are in your walk (or which direction you’re facing), it might do the same for yours, though I recognize that different things are suitable for different stages of each person’s journey. The metaphorical ice axe that might come in very handy on a metaphorical faith-glacier might be totally ill-suited to slashing through a metaphorical faith-jungle where a metaphorical machete would be the better tool.

First is a book I blogged about back in September: “How to Pray”. (The wedding was back in August.)

Second is a sermon series by Matt Chandler out of The Village Church down in Dallas. Most of his stuff is good, but the Luke series is especially good — hip, funny, insightful and cool but also rock-solid grounded — delivered in plain, 21st-century English (as opposed to the stilted, ‘churcy’ 18th-century kind). The series began on Sept. 23, 2007 with a sermon entitled ‘Skeptics Welcome’ and appears to still be going on, (sermon #32 in the series, ‘Deconstruct/Reconstruct’ was delivered on Oct. 26th, 2008).

Third and most importantly, is a sermon series by Mark Driscoll out of Mars Hill Church in Seattle entitled, simply ‘Doctrine’ (primary vodcast/audio line-up here, audio rss here). The series ran from March 30, 2008 to June 30, 2008. It’s nice to have a church completely hip to what’s really going on on the Internet and even, in some ways, advancing it, as opposed to what the pastor who still prints out his e-mail was told it was all about 12 or 13 years ago.

As Pastor Mark notes, more than once, Seattle is the least-churched, most stingy city in America — and he has the data to back up that claim. That hasn’t stopped the church from becoming influential and growing rapidly to seven campuses and ~10,000 people in worship. The series (as well as his other sermons) are good on multiple levels — incredibly knowledgeable, smart, emotionally nuanced, not afraid to take a stand but also very clear about the Biblical principles and theologic behind those stands — but also loving and human, he doesn’t forget those. It’s rare to have a pastor this grounded who also ‘gets’ the softer side of things (e.g., God as ‘daddy’ and all that implies; parents especially will be able to relate).

If you’re not challenged by the Mars Hill Seattle stuff then nothing will challenge you. If you’re not intrigued to continue listening and learning, then it’s worth checking your intrigue-o-meter and your desire to grow in the faith. He is by no means the only source for such learning, but he is one of the very best today.

Twenty two years ago I almost moved to Seattle. I love mountains and other big, honking outdoor adventure kinds of things and the people to tend to engage in them and so it seemed like a natural. (That plus the fact that sweet 3-bedroom houses out there were going for like $80K back then, about a third of what they were going for in my hometown of Boston.) If God hadn’t put my wife-to-be in my path at that time, and if I didn’t love her and our family and my friends here so much, it’s pastors like this who would almost make me regret my decision not to follow through on that impulse to switch coasts.

In 1986, my cousin took me to THE Starbucks store on my way to climb one of the big, glaciated peaks out there. I remember thinking: “Hmm… if these guys ever got their act together and went national and maybe went public…” Did I buy stock? No. Duh. On that same trip, I visited with my college roommate. He had just taken a job at Microsoft and was loving it. We had taken many of the same classes together. He casually hinted that I might like it there. He retired — wealthy-for-life, in monetary terms anyway–at the age of just 32. Regrets? No. I’m just trying to enjoy where God decides to put me — whether that’s a ’small’ thing (wedding seating) or a ‘big’ thing (on which coast to put down roots). God is good. All the time.

Oh, almost forgot. The other thing I’m reading right now is St. Augistine’s ‘City of God’ (a marked-up copy lent by a pastor friend of mine.) What’s amazing is how closely his late-4th and early 5th century, end-of-empire observations on the intersection between pagan culture and Christianity mimic today’s headlines… i.e., to a scary degree. Between that and the other stuff I mentioned above (plus a brief lull in the day job) it’s a rich, intellectually and spiritually stimulating time. Off to walk the dog in the bright, cold sunshine and listen to more podcasts.