At this stage in the journey, you will find people who have experienced life with God long enough to live with a deep and abiding conviction that they have a role to play in God’s story. They have learned how to turn all of life into a formative advantage–drawing deeper into life with God, and love for others than they could have ever imagined when they began the critical journey.

The Wall is a word picture meant to help us understand the sense of discontinuity we sometimes experience in life with God. We will inevitably go through seasons in our lives when we feel that our story and God’s story are disconnected, or perhaps in deep conflict. Without warning, the things that used to give us life, nourish our faith, and keep us moving forward just stop working

Many people approaching this stage become aware for the first time that what got them this far won’t get them much farther. We suddenly become aware of tensions in our life with God through things like adverse circumstances, unanswered questions, or personal tragedy. Our questions force us to look at God, ourselves, our beliefs, and our community through conflicted eyes.

Those who have been created new in Christ Jesus have been given His Spirit. And one of the most important roles of the Spirit in the life of a follower of Jesus is to empower us to develop and use our unique gifts, abilities, perspectives, and experiences in the life and mission of the church. You have a role to play in God’s story.

To successfully make our way into Stage 2 of the critical journey, we need two things: to learn and to belong. We find both in the context of a community. And this community provides, among other things, a space for us to find the things everyone needs in the early years of their faith journey.

Every story has a beginning, including yours. But as individuals our story always begins in the middle of a much larger story than our own. We are born into God’s story. Unfortunately, it often takes us a long time to figure that out.

This is a series about your story. But it’s impossible to tell your story without the context of the larger story of God. So, no matter who you are or where you are in your faith journey, the invitation to all of us is to come further up and further in to experience life with God.

It had been 400 years since the Israelites had heard from any prophet concerning this Messiah. And then, Christmas came. God Himself became a man. He traded the throne of Heaven for a lowly throne in a manger. Love entered the world in a way that hadn’t happened since the beginning of creation. At that moment, everything changed.

Peace isn't a feeling you can conjure up on your own or buy in a store. You can try, but what will you find? Flawed solutions. And why is that? True peace isn't something that can be found in any other place, thing, or person other than Jesus.

Jesus was born during the time of the Roman occupation in Israel. So, it wasn’t a time of celebration, gladness, and joy. It was a time of oppression, sadness, cruelty, and grave violence. When the angels showed up to the shepherds and proclaimed, “We bring you good news of great joy…” there was a stark contrast between the message they delivered and the reality people were living in. Perhaps the angels understood that joy was not dependent upon the dark political, social, and moral landscape at the time. God was more committed to their wholeness than their happiness.