I like to use this blog to share some personal information about what goes on in my life, but you just need to read a broad selection of entries to know I don’t get real personal too often. This blog won’t be an accurate or informed diary of the life and times of Christopher Dryden, though it should occasionally offer some narrative and in reviews like these that narrative might be more informative.
All that is a prelude to September 2015, which will go down as the toughest month of the year. Not that it started that way. I had the privilege of taking part in an initiative that means the world to me. It gets to the heart of the importance of deep and meaningful relationships in church to be the change that lets the world know we follow Jesus. I got to take part in that with two of the dearest people in my life. I got a great buzz doing something that challenged the sensibilities of folks whose version of Christian living was somewhat more static than the vibrant, dynamic relational life seen throughout the scripture we purport to follow. So that experience acted as a highlight and culmination of months of prayerful planning.
From there a major personal explosion rocked my world in a very unpleasant way. Very unpleasant indeed. The aftermath of which left an impact that still reverberates to this day. At the time, though, it left me in a state of shock. I truly would not want anyone to experience anything like that … unless it lead them to experience something of the restorative grace of God that would eventually address the situation.
The term tough times is as much an understatement as suggesting the world wars of the last century caused a number of casualties.
In all that, God remained ever true, ever faithful, ever patient. I know He senses the hurt caused by the devastation of such experiences. I know He is not remote and insensitive to these things. I know in those times His presence heals not through easy decisions and quick-fix tonics. I know His presence heals gradually and thoroughly from within more than anywhere.
Earlier in the year I had a meditation on the scars that Jesus still had after the resurrection. During September, such meditations came in handy in walking through those tough times in that scars of great trauma are not signs of defeat in Christ. They are indications of the greater glory to be revealed in us as we experience His resurrection power through those tough times.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 