Jesus is Alive and Available

Encounter 

I do love the narrative of John 20, heralding all that goes on with “Now the first day of the week,” followed by meeting, mistaken identity, revelation and sending as the first sent one following the resurrection. 

It opens early in the day with a solitary female figure from a region called Magdalene, a fishing area derived from Aramaic (Semitic) Maghdela, a place on the Sea of Galilee, literally meaning “tower” (compare Hebrew migdal “tower,” from gadal “be great or high”). Then, in the late 1600s, it was used in the context of protection, but not originally. I will not get distracted by that, as it is not my aim today.

This Mary woke up early on Sunday morning at the tomb that now fills her experience, and she found it was empty. Turning around in confusion, she saw a gardener with questions. A voice broke into her world with familiarity, her name, perhaps saying in her mind, I know that voice.   

Being recognised, more than that, but hearing her name, she recognised him and exclaimed, “Rabboni!” (John 20:1-16).

The first word she uttered at that moment was not “Saviour” or “Lord”, but “Rabboni” (“my teacher”), with the emphasis on “My” — please note. 

Perhaps the realisation sparked the thought “MY”, Jesus is still mine, and I am still a disciple.

I have made my choice: you are the teacher in my life, the disciple of my being. Have I made that revelatory discovery that by living in the Image and Likeness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus is my primary instructor? Building this pattern of God in my life, to be understood by all people and to reflect God’s ways and actions, this is my blueprint.

Blueprints of Creation 

I initially worked as a Building Surveyor early in my career, focusing on architecture and construction. Even today, I view buildings differently. I consider their design, aesthetics, shapes, and practical use.   

On this theme, I often wonder what Moses was given “to build according to the pattern” for the tabernacle. For many years, my life was surrounded by blueprints of buildings that guided the construction. Do I really think Moses had seen blueprints laid out on God’s table? I don’t think so; considering the tabernacle, its furniture, and its construction, I can only conclude it relates to Genesis and the creation. Each day is reflected in its furniture; for example, the seven days of creation correspond to seven items, with the first day, “Let there be light,” linked to a golden lampstand (menorah). 

On the second day, we observe the structure itself, the Firmament, with its screens and veils, which can be seen as representing the firmament that separated the waters — the laver being the sea waters breaking forth. 

On the third day, we find the bronze altar in the outer courtyard, used for sacrifices, which might correspond to the separation of the earth and seas. And so on.   

I suggest that Moses visited creation when he was given a pattern to follow, seeing God’s aim. That the blueprint was creation itself—Moses visiting the event and a pattern being instilled in him to refrain from building outside of it. Creation is the first temple; the tabernacle was merely a symbol of the building pattern of creation. The Tabernacle, therefore, is not just a physical structure but a symbolic representation of God’s creative work and a place for His people to encounter Him.   

At the resurrection, the first name given to Jesus—’My Jesus’—is Rabboni, meaning ‘My teacher’, and My disciples, My Life giver. 

The manner and words of Jesus should become our common sense, recognising that the living Word is meant to fill our minds, flow from our lips, and find a home in our hearts. Engage with and experience that the Word is alive, as God breathed the “breath of life” into us, just as he did with humanity at the beginning. 

Do not approach God’s Word as if it were academic writing, laws, or texts designed solely to restate a dry system of facts for regurgitation or passing an exam. 

The Word is to be encountered and to bring transformation.

Living Word

I remember in the science lab when I studied Biology, it was fascinating at 12 years old. We had to dissect animals. I recall cutting open frogs and mice; they were pinned down to a board. The exercise was to understand where the organs were, what they looked like, and everything was visible, but somehow a part of its essence had been lost—that is LIFE.

Similarly, when we consider the Word, remember that it is the living Word of God. We are called to pursue and experience it, not just a frog or mouse to be emptied.

What am I like today? What is the religious life we live? What is our life of faith? I pray we do not remove the life and the beauty from God’s Word. Asking people to eat what is dry and dead. That we don’t just cultivate arguments and theologies for position, but we hand life with life, we have a life to live and a more abundant life.

Here is a clash of the living Word, a question of Jesus from the Law came, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25-37). What a question — inheritance is about receiving, not what must I do to get it, I thought.

The Shema was quoted as saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Then the legalised officials pressed again, “And who is my neighbour?”

Jesus, through a story, illustrates the Word as a living entity, the living Word “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

What a Rabboni.

Jesus’ way of discipling and teaching was unique; he carefully wrapped truth in parables. Telling stories and narratives that reached the listener as he taught. To understand, you needed to grasp what was said to get all the essence out of the words. 

The Jesus way, Jesus revealed the heart of those who listened. They were simply stories or powerful, insightful instructions.

Jesus is stunning, and his ways are evolving. I love the titles of the late Eugene Peterson’s books on Jesus’ ways, such as ‘Eat this Book’, a way of taking in the living word that constantly challenges life.

Often Jesus taught from a seated, reclined repose, yet it makes you and still makes us stand up straight. (Matthew 5:1-2; Luke 4:20).

This same Jesus is available to you and me today. Rabboin, MY teacher, is available to us right now.

The risen Jesus—our Rabboni, our Teacher—is still alive and available to each of us. The same voice that called Mary by name calls us today, inviting us not merely to study His words but to live them. The living Word continues to breathe life into all who listen and follow.

Changing Perspectives: When Eternity Breaks In

Romans 11:33-36  

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counsellor? … For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Have you ever wished you could see things the way God sees them? Maybe you’ve found yourself in a situation where, if only you had known God’s mind, you might have avoided a world of trouble. Maybe you’re there right now—wondering why God didn’t tell you, or if He tried and you missed it. If you’re honest, you might admit: “I don’t know.” And that’s okay. But perhaps there’s more for us to learn—something that could change not just how we see our past, but how we walk into the future.

The Problem of Perspective

Everyone has a perspective. It’s how we look at any given thing. But nobody has God’s full perspective. At best, we get a glimpse—a little piece that God, in God’s mercy, chooses to reveal. We can’t know the future by speculation, only by revelation. And even then, knowing a little doesn’t mean we know the whole will of God.

We live in a world—and often, a church—that is at odds with itself. Why? Because we all hold tightly to our own perspectives, often out of ignorance. We hurt each other and ourselves because we mistake our way of thinking for God’s. But God’s ways are higher. Our perspective is shaped by time and place, but God exists outside of both.

Time Changes Us

1 Corinthians 13:11 

“When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”

Paul reminds us that our perspective is meant to evolve as we grow. The tragedy is when we cling to childish thinking, when we solidify our thoughts and refuse to see things anew. Israel wandered forty years in the wilderness, not because God failed them, but because they couldn’t change their perspective. They saw themselves as grasshoppers, forgetting that God was with them.

The older we get, the more tempting it is to live in the “good old days,” to freeze our perspective and resist the new thing God is doing. But God calls us to a higher view, to see beyond the container to the content, to move from speculation to revelation.

Eternal Perspective

God’s perspective isn’t just higher—it’s outside of time altogether. God created time; He isn’t bound by it. For us, the eternal seems like a long, unending stretch, but for God, it’s a different dimension. He sees the end from the beginning—indeed, He sees all at once, more than that, he is in the past, in the future, and present all at once as not in “time”..

Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

To be still is to step out of our frantic, time-bound perspective and join God in God’s. To see, even for a moment, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God sees. Moses spent forty days on the mountain and came down with a face shining from the encounter. It wasn’t the memory that changed him—it was the happening, the encounter with the eternal.

Touched by Eternity

When eternity breaks in, it changes us. We remember the moment, but it’s the encounter that transforms. The church is kept alive not by memories of past revivals, but by fresh encounters with the living God. When the memory fades, so does the vitality. But when the happening is renewed, so is the church.

We need to hunger for God’s presence, that is, to live and be in God’s presence, not chase it, but be within it, to remove the veils we place over ourselves, and to let God change us from glory to glory. As Paul writes in Romans 8:29, we are “predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son”—to be shaped by God’s perspective, not our own.

Learning to Listen

Consider the narrative around Samuel, the boy who slept near the ark before he even knew God’s voice. God called, and Samuel thought it was Eli. How many times do we mistake God’s voice for something else, or someone else? Samuel learned to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” He had the courage to hear—and to speak—the hard truth, because eternity had touched him.

God has already seen your future. He’s not trying to be hard on you; He’s trying to get you on the right path. The hardest lesson? We can’t change anyone—not even ourselves—apart from God’s revelation. But one glimpse of the eternal can change everything.

Will You Let Go?

The challenge for each of us is this: Are we willing to let go of our imperfect, sometimes destructive perspectives and embrace what God is saying? Are we willing to be changed by the happening, not just the memory? Are we willing to be vessels of God’s voice, like Samuel, even when it’s hard?

Eternity has broken in on you. A happening has captured you. Now, it requires courage. Will you let God change your perspective—about God, about yourself, about others? Will you let eternity shape your now?

Prayer

Lord, lift my eyes to see as You see. Give me the courage to lay down my old perspectives and embrace Your eternal truth. Let me be changed by Your presence, and let that change flow into the world around me. Amen.

Reflection:   Where is God inviting you to a higher perspective today? What “happening” with the eternal has marked your life, and how is He calling you to respond?

The Kingdom has come.

Who would have considered an unsightly backwater group of young men changing the world? Not only a backwater, but also young, probably teenagers, entrusted with shaping a future world.  The now and not yet world that had arrived and come into their midst, and is still breaking in.   These teenagers stood at a crossroads of time, who sometimes understood, although not accurately, that the coming world was to overthrow the suppressors’ force.     They stood occupied, living under the heel of the mightiest military force in history—the all-conquering Roman Empire. 

This Message of Jesus turned the whole world upside down, or better, the right way up These disciples were accused of doing that very thing.  The Jesus-type world confronted a hierarchical world, a top-down oppressive world with another way of life.   A world where all people were dominated by another, with a world that emptied itself for each other.   Father, Son and Holy Spirit world where each one raised the other and emptied for each other, being initiated by sacrificial giving wholeheartedly of life to another.  

The early followers were touched, saw with their own eyes, and were overwhelmed by self-giving love and extravagant good deeds that transformed their world.

Today, as we look at our world, we wonder what has changed when the only message Jesus uttered was ‘the Kingdom of God.’   We see the rise of a world where domination is prevalent. In a world with over 2 billion Christians, we ask where our impact has gone in terms of transformational and self-emptying expression.    It seems that Christendom has joined the world of hierarchical domination and abuse, of course, not everywhere, but often the case; perhaps this is a case of self-preservation.  

I understood just as Christ was the ‘’exact representation”, “the explanation” of Father, Son and Holy Spirit relationship that we as the church is to continue with that very representation of God.    Perhaps we have forgotten and joined in church building rather than the enlargement of the Kingdom of God.  

Having been living by the gospel for 40 years, I agonise over this and consider the dilemma in my mind.

There are so many excellent people and ecclesial expressions around us; however, I must say that, considering the many good congregations and sincere believers, something appears to be amiss.   Should we simply continue with the same old ways, we will not have a lasting impact on our generation.   

As I read the scripture and consider the Message of Jesus, I ask myself, have we seen the message being obscured, with us settling for a gospel centred on salvation and the church, rather than the Kingdom?    We have not grasped that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have a goal of restoration until Christ fills all in all, when we will finally see God’s ultimate intention arriving in creation, with both people and creation transformed, people matured in Christ and creation set free by the people of God.  

My invitation is this: to join the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in their ongoing work of restoration. This is a call to participation—to bring the promises of God spoken through the prophets to life in our world today.

The Kingdom has come. It is here, and it is still coming. It breaks in wherever people embody the self-emptying love of Christ. It advances when believers live not for themselves but for the renewal of all things, both in the earth, creation and in the lives of people.

Will you join in this divine partnership? Will you live as a citizen of the Kingdom that has already come and is still coming?

Let us rise again as those first disciples did—ordinary people carrying an extraordinary message—that the world may once again be turned the right way up.

Nations…where do you stand?

Matthew 28:16-20

The Great Commission

16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”[1]

Make disciples of all Nations…what are we looking at?

Some of today’s and recent headlines read, ‘Make America great’, ‘United Kingdom separates from Europe’, ‘Rise of Nationalism’, it is the world as we know it. Some would say it’s the increase of modern tribalism, I am of this and not of that, I belonged to this group, not that, ours is better than theirs, us and them all the same root, politically, nationally or religiously. The rise of national boundaries. imagartion challenges.

Nationhood and identity have become large in peoples mind and the evidence are all around us. For many years what is Britishness has been a debate only fuelled once again with the rise of the 4 nations of the UK looking at separation sovereignty. I’m not sure if it is a cry for belonging or control and dominance, time will tell, probably both.  

I’m Welsh, I could not speak a word of English until I reached the double figures in age, so I’m told, or British or both or adopted South African having a permanent residency status to our beloved South Africa. Who am I? Who are you? Perhaps I should have included my Heavenly Citizenship as well. Therefore, I am a Christ-follower that has residence on Earth or Welsh who happens to be British or even UK born that holds a South African residency or yes to it all? I wonder how you would describe yourself, by your culture, by your language, by your colour or by nation, place of birth?

One of the great plights within our world is the refugee or migrant movements that now face us with millions on the move, which we are told with the climate issue this is only going to grow due to soil conditions, millions under enforced migration due to political, safety and economic reasons.

Population figures inform us that at least 79.5 million people have been forced from their homes and 26 million of these are under 18 (UNHCR). With all this movement I wonder what will be and what is Nationhood, what are Nations?

As a follower of Christ, we are probably impacted by some ‘lockdown’ process and are more aware than ever of the practical challenges to our practice of faith, on the one had much work in a food bank or similar to help but how do we practice faith as in the past. Perhaps we have realised the fundamental need to move from the entrapment of ‘platform celebrity’ forms of ecclesia (church) and the performance effort of each Sunday or whenever you meet to realize we do need to discover discipleship in life and all it entails.

Now as an aside before someone points a finger and goes off on one that I don’t believe in the gathered church, that is so far from the truth. I believe fully and am part of the ecclesia of God, however, I do see the liberty to express a people and community determined by culture and social expression, what does that mean it is not one pattern fits all, the body should be expressed diversely without feeling deficient if I don’t follow a pattern. In other words, the pattern is unimportant it is the life expressed, the life of God, from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and through each person that is central, Christ central in it all. I see the church, the ecclesia as being a fluid, flexible community that fills wherever the people of Christ are, that fluid and flexile dynamic people group expressing Christ, living Christ, being incarnate to our world.  

The ecclesia is the apple of God’s eye, the vehicle of the Kingdom, the magnificent manifold wisdom of God expressed with no predetermined form or shape, Christ expressing. A community that seeks to inform our world and creation that God has a purpose and goal while sharing in and declaring God’s dream. A group of people with a relationship that brings about a changing world, including creation. A Nation from every tribe and tongue.

Now back to my reason for writing on Nations.

In reading Matthew 28:16-20 we are borough to an awareness of the Great Commission to disciple the Nations, I suggest this is not the one-to-one but something greater and grander is hidden hear. Not to say that bringing an individual through to Christ and beyond is nothing more than magnificent.   

How can I open this up, by firstly stating Christ came to bring back the Nations to their rightful place and this is why Nations are to be affected by our discipleship.

Matthew 28:18 has Jesus announcing, “All Authority Given To Me In Heaven & Earth”, but why “All Authority”?

Sadly, today many have reduced ‘faith’ to personal gain and advancement, to achieve their destiny and goal without reference to the dream or goal of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The gospel, our faith has much greater implications than this, a self-help environment.

God from the beginning has been after a family within the ultimate grand plan and at a significant time the children of God will be govern angels, that is on the final coming together of heaven and Earth the ecclesia will become those who will onwardly govern take responsibility for on God’s behalf, fully expressing the image and likeness of God. Unfortunately, many have never heard this and only see the cross redemptively from humanities perspective as a secure ticket to ‘heaven’. They only hear the instruction that is about the supply of personal need whatever that might be. However, within God’s scheme, a dream of a family, but you say God does not have dreams, it is only used as a figure of speech as God only really has a conclusion, a culmination not a dream which has still to fully manifest, arrive this is yet to fully come, but I can dream of it.

 To disciple the Nations, it is necessary to see that the redemptive resurrection of Christ was to redeem the Nations, bring them back into the family and authority of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christ’s authority was to remove the gods of nations, the authority that direct and controls nations now bringing the Nations into the disciplining of Gods people.   Isaiah 3:3 along with Mic 4:2 is another way of saying the Nations being discipled. All authority was to remove the lesser authorities bring then back to God and a fruitful garden within the authority of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit, returning to the family of God.   

The resurrection powerfully reverts the dividing of the peoples at what the biblical narrative calls Babel, the dividing of people by language. The story of Babel was not about languages, but the outflow of language was the outcome of the authorities over nations. As Deuteronomy 32:8 outlines that the peoples were set boundaries according to the unseen world, the sons of God. Christs’ resurrection was so far-reaching that redemption came to people, creation and the unseen as well as the Nations. Through the scripture, we have glimpses of all this, the unseen realms, the authorities over nations controlling and governing in different ways (Daniel, Psalm 82) Christ brought back the Nations to their rightful God. We see it demonstrated at Pentecost, it was not just about languages, drunkenness, falling over but the reversal of the authority set at Babel the one language of God brings back the Nations. Our Gospel has a Nationhood implication woven into it.

The New Testament writers understood this, Paul especially with his call to the Gentile world, was not in opposition to the Jewish world, it was the commission Jerusalem, Judea, and the nations beyond that Paul took up as he understood the resurrection was bringing back the Nations just as we have today to disciple the Nations, it is the resurrections narrative. In Romans 15:23-28, we find Paul eager to go to Spain, more than that he had to go. Why well in the list of nations at Pentecost Spain was the only nations not mentioned there that was under the then known world and rule of Rome so Paul had to reach as he understood Christ redeems nations to God, therefore, he must fulfil it.  

The Redemption of the Nations is part of our Gospel.

As followers of Christ, we too have a desire to see Nations instructed from dominant authorities to God, a self-emptying authority. I wonder today would we see the nations not only ethnically but in terms of business, art, media where people are finding their identity?

You have been called to bring Nations back to the garden of God, to the garden city of God back to the ’All authority’ of Christ. Discipling people and Nationhood more exact from every tribe and tongue correcting Babel and bring all back to the family of God. We are redeeming Nations and should be at every level it is correcting and removing authorities as we learn to be in union with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Two ‘F’ of my Christian way

Mark 2:22

No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” 

Lessons from the Field 

While watching my childhood game played by such good international teams, I reminisced about the days I played back in my hometown.   Watching the back and forth of the match on televised, I eagerly observe the technical ability and the setting of set pieces, as they are called.  Watching team rhythms and individual brilliance, whether it’s the strength or speed.  However, undoubtedly, what will win matches are the push and thrust of individuals and teams that can be spontaneous, responding to the moment and keeping fluid and flexible.  

Fluidity and Flexibility are key to being able to respond with initiative and rugby sense.  So what’s that got to do with me, you may say, even if I like rugby or perhaps you dont like the game.   Let me outline the necessary characteristics that individuals and the cooperative church need is to be flexible and fluid.

I find that many live in the church with informed laws and regulations. Even the world knows what the so-called church cannot do, and the laws and regulations are rather about what the church can do: blessing, empowerment, enlarging creation, and people bring maturity, and filling of Christ. All in all,  

Religious prescription has taken away creativity; God desires that we become this heart and the expression of God in our inner being, showing what God is like.  Being the demonstration of God in whatever world we enter.   Faith, having the faith of Christ more accurately, is not about keeping prescriptions, but about being the image and likeness of God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have made us.     

That we are called to stand as demonstrations of God’s view and thought, not being law keepers but being demonstrators of life, the life of God.

Let not leaders be so caught up in prescriptive laws, but foster maturity and cultivate the life of God in individuals and the corporate church, so that the world around us is awakened to a life beyond. A quality of life that is attractive and filled with Christ.

As life surrounds us with events and circumstances, as situations hijack us, and as plans become distorted and must change, we are those who become flexible.    Ready to adjust, take a side step, slow down, speed up as our environment changes or experience changes before us.  As events come from straight ahead but enter from the side, they invade our world seemingly illegitimately, which is beyond our control.  We learn to be fluid, knowing the word of God is there to become our common sense, which enables our fluidity.   

Beyond Prescriptions: Embracing Spirt life

The word of God is so ingrained in us that it is the base from which our thinking comes from, not that it’s a law outside of us, but as the scripture says, ‘written on our hearts’ (2 Cor. 3:3), it’s our way of living, our common sense.   That is what flows from us, enabling our fluidity as our world sometimes throws all at us.

Keeping the Word of God at the forefront and centre, which if we live this way will enable our fluidity in progress. As Jesus encountered the religious leaders of His day, he would say “you say, but I say,” changing the prescriptions that govern their world, introducing us to fluidity. The woman caught in adultery—the law’s prescription says ‘stone her’, yet Jesus said ‘neither do I condemn you’.

Fluidity: The way of love

I could say that the law of love we are meant to embody, demonstrate, and express indeed requires us to be fluid; it truly does. There are no fixed laws, three instructions, two confessions, or four steps to get you out of every situation; otherwise, we will end up like on Jesus’ day when ten laws, the Ten Commandments, were not enough and resulted in over 700 laws, as faith was replaced by prescriptions. Rather than the liberty of fluidity, each new circumstance needed a sub-law to be made to help people live. Jesus and I both agree—there is only one way, the way of love: “love the Lord your God, love your neighbour as yourself.’ As the old Beatles song said, ‘All we need is love, love, love.’

If we are to be a Christ-centred ekklesia, we will be a love-centred church. Fluidity enables demonstration. Consider Jesus’ display of authority; power was not through domination but through a towel and a bowl. Bring self-emptying in washing feet, taking on the servanthood of humanity, he even said, as often as you gather, do this. Is not the breaking of bread, the communion, really yet another self-emoting, downhearted display of towel and bowl? Which is, alas, rooted in our ability to be fluid or demonstrate to every person and environment we find ourselves in, with our sleeves rolled up.

I often say that the church is not defined by its structure or offices to uphold, but by the life poured into people — the resurrection life — filling every shape it is poured into. Let me try to express it this way. Holding a wine glass of water as a picture of the church, we describe the glass in terms of its shape and size, its colour and smooth edges, the contours, and call it the church. Then we attempt to fit a mug into the wine glass, but it fails, declaring that it is not the right shape, as it is not the same. Proceeding to pour the water into a saucer, as the saucer cannot go into the wine glass.  We forget the water, the fluidity, is the church, not the shape that holds it, the fluid life.  The church fills all that it is poured into, not the shape, but homes, streets, offices, and buildings.  Being the expression of Christ filling all in all, the church by nature is to fill, not prescribe a shape.  The FLUID church is necessary.

Flexibility: Adapting for maturity

The other ‘F’ is Flexibility, being able to deal with every person and every situation that arises.  Being supple and able to stretch for flexibility.   What does it look like?

That is flexibility in the sense that it is adaptable to every culture and generation, adapting to a world without internet or word dominance due to all the technical advances.   Considering new ideas which show a willingness to consider change rather than being stuck.   I think the church and its leaders often show they are stuck rather than adaptable.   Flexibility for some is so difficult to entertain, especially for leadership, as it can involve adjusting your priorities and experiencing and bringing about new methods.

Flexibility is having an open mind rather than preconceived positions, in the same way as being able to have the flexibility to discover solutions when there are challenges to consider.  Which actually brings a people and individuals to the place of ability ot learn anew, adapting and realising there is not one way only.

Living Fluid and Flexible Lives 

A church that is mature, its maturity being fluid and flexible, which is an extension of individuals, functions that are maturing, and they too are flexible and fluid.

Consider

Where and with whom is God inviting you to be more flexible and fluid so you can first demonstrate the life of Christ, followed by being more creative this week?