God?s Game Pan

It’s weird that God called me to writing, because it requires so much isolation. Some writers are reclusive by nature; they hole up in their cabins drinking gallons of vodka and refusing hygiene and human contact. But I am the exact opposite, save the vodka. (That was a joke.) 

When my last deadline was approaching, I’d worked around the clock for days. I hadn’t taken a single phone call or left the house. Near the end, my husband deposited our three kids at my Girlfriend Trina’s house so I could work without distractions. After a few hours, I called Trina and asked if I could come over. Brandon looked at me like the mental patient I resembled and said, “Why do you want to go there? All our kids are there! It’s quiet here!” With a melodramatic lump in my throat, I cried, “I’m sick of myself ! I’m sick of silence! I just need a girlfriend!”

At Creation, God declared everything He made good ? the light, seas, plants, stars, animals, and finally the man He fashioned. It was all good. Adam began working in the Garden of Eden, walking along the river, tending the land. From God’s own mouth, creation was declared good, good, good.

Until God watched Adam begin the business of living. No, this wouldn’t do. There was a void, a piece of perfection not yet designed. Adam’s productivity was impressive; his physical abilities weren’t lacking. The animals were getting along fine. The natural order God established was flawless. The cycles were balanced. The vegetation was flourishing. The sounds, the smells ? earth was a masterpiece. It looked like paradise, yet . . .

God declared, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Creation was incomplete until humanity was placed together. With Eve, it was truly good. Oh, Girls, it is not good for people to be alone. Isolation is not good. Loneliness is not good. Selfabsorption is not good. The last time a human was alone with God’s blessing, there was only one man on the planet. Since the creation of Eve, God has set us in community.

Read Ephesians 4:1-3.
How would you define “unity of the Spirit”? What is that?

A few synonyms for unity are agreement, unison, unanimity, conformity. Unison? Christians are about the most diverse group on the planet. I suppose that’s why Paul used words like “completely humble,” “gentle,” and “patient.” Peace is the bonding agent among believers, no matter their differences. Peace can exist between conservatives and liberals, Baptists and Catholics, Americans and Europeans, old schoolers and new schoolers.

It can because the Spirit is able.

Henri Nouwen wrote,

Community is first and foremost a gift of the Holy Spirit, not built upon mutual compatibility, shared affection or common interests, but upon having received the same divine breath, having been given a heart set aflame by the same divine fire and having been embraced by the same divine love. It is the Godwithin who brings us into communion with each other and makes us one. It consoles us with the revelation that God indeed does want to create among us the unity we most long for.2 If the Spirit is powerful enough enough to wash a filthy sinner pure as snow and present her to the Father as a specimen of holiness, worthy of eternity, then He can bridge the gap between a hymn lover and an electric guitarist. Do our style preferences matter? Does my denomination require a wall of separation? Does the color of our skin make any difference in God’s holy nation? Where you live, how I worship, where they minister ? how have these so fractured the family of God? As Paul reminded us, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives