Recently, Tanya & I decided to take a roadtrip to Grand Rapids, Michigan. The orginial plan went something like this…

Daryl – “Hey Tanya you want to go to Grand Rapids? Go Saturday night… find a cheap hotel… hear Rob Bell preach.”

Tanya – “Yeah, I guess we got the time… why not?!”

So we decided to kick-off our early summer vacation with a roadtrip to the Christian bookstore mecca, Grand Rapids. Found an awesome deal at the Crown Plaza… free upgrade to Business Class too. When we got to Mars Hill Church Sunday morning, we decided to snag some good seats. We went for 4th row. We arrived 15 minutes before service. As I was spacing out, waiting for the service to begin… I realized I was starring at someone I know. It was my old roomate from bible college, Jason Crawford. He lives in Michigan but on the otherside of the state. It was espcially suprising to see him because he works at a church, and often pastors feel pressure to be at their home church every Sunday. It ends up, Jason took the weekend off to travel with his awesome wife and family, to celebrate a friends recent graduation from a local college.

So Tanya & I got to hang out with my old college roomate, his awesome wife and family. A nice surprise to kick off my unusual summer. However, I want to share a few thoughts I took home from the message Rob Bell delivered. As Rob explained at the end, sometimes sermons sound like they were said just for you. This was one of those times for me.

Im not going to try and be as articulate as Rob Bell. He is a great communicator and I thank God for voices like him. If you are interested in hearing his teaching from May 2nd, check out Mars Hill But dont wait long, Mars Hill offers about 12 weeks to hear a past sermon.

The series being walked thru by the Mars Hill Community is ‘Water: Quenching your thirst and sustaining life.’ The passage that Rob was teaching from was 2 Kings 2:19-22 ‘Healing the Water.’ To be honest, I don’t remember this passage from scripture. I was sad that Rob wasn’t sharing about the next story in 2 Kings talking about Elisha calling out bears to kill like 40something people. Thats a wild story. However, this story, atleast at first, seemed like a pretty random and shallow story.

¹⁹ The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”

²⁰ “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

²¹ Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’ ” ²² And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

As I said, Im not going to go into explaining the sermon, listen to it online. However, I want to share some things I learned from 2 Kings 2:19-22.

According to Elisha…

(1) “History does not decide, it describes.” I am free to create a new future. Like the City in the passage, it was made completely new. I am going to let Christ build a new story, history, narrative of my life. God is mighty, and loves to refresh, restore, and renew our lives. I look forward to the story God has ahead of me, and I want to learn from my history.  Let your kingdom come, in my world and in my life. The kingdom of the heavens is now advancing, invade my heart.

According to Elisha…

(2) “Curses are made to be broken.” As of late I have been guilty of thinking and saying things like, ‘just my luck’, ‘cant get a break’, ‘its inevitable’,  and ‘bad things come in threes, so Im due for some good luck.’ However, the God I know and love is the type who enjoys being the cause of goodness. I need to empty myself and let God fill me up. I am believing a lie, when I think anything is bigger then God. Restore my mind Lord. Why do I worry? Why do I freak out? God knows what I need. Your love is strong.

According to Elisha…

(3) “a new word can always be spoken.” Its crazy to think that no matter our mess, no matter our junk, no matter our issues, God is about hope, cleansing, and restoration. But what we think and believe matters. When we get stuck, God is about us being made new. The word repent literally means, NEW mind. It is like the NEW bowl in 2 Kings 2:19-22. We aren’t talking a new bowl from IKEA. We are talking about a bowl that was made NEW from some broken pieces. This word, “hadash” is used to describe a renewed spirit, heart, life, etc. It is also the word to describe a new song, covenant, mercies, etc. Something with a history that was made new. It is something restored.

The service began with Rob teaching us about 2 Kings 2:19-22 and concluded with an oppurtunity to come forward during the music/singing time. It was a powerful time to throw salt in the water as a symbol for a new start. For Tanya & I, we are at the beginning of a new journey. Recently we got in a car accident that totaled our car, we found out that we were being evicted (house we rent got listed for sale), and I lost my job. We have been worrying about our future and didn’t want to become bitter or complaining about the past. This was a moment we needed to hear from the Lord. We heard God speak to us and say, that God is using this time to renew us. Two things we were reminded: ‘That you are strong… And you love me.’