Day 1 of the E100 Challenge begins at a very predictable place...the beginning, Genesis 1 & 2. The accounts of creation testify to the truth that God does everything with purpose and there is purpose in all he does and purpose for all he created. There is a definite order of purpose in the creation account of Genesis 1. What I mean is that everything created on each particular day was necessary to sustain and support what came next. In other words, you don't see cows created one day and then hear God say, "Oops! We should have put some grass down there first! What in the world are they going to eat?" No, instead, there is a purpose for what was created when it was created. I believe we experience that same purpose in our lives as we seek to follow Christ. As Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven." Now, for me that's not the same as the homespun wisdom of, "everything happens for a reason." (BTW, for those wondering, no, that phrase is not in the Bible!) To me that seems like deterministic, even fatalistic thinking. I don't believe God causes everything to happen, good and/or evil, as if we are just living out some prewritten script on earth, but I do believe that in his creative purpose he is more than able in all situations and circumstances to "work for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) So, he is able to fulfill his purpose in my life no matter where I am, no matter what happens to me or around me, and no matter how long it takes. In fact, my ultimate hope in Christ is that the Living God and Creator of all is actively at work re-creating (redeeming) this fallen and broken world (Day 2 reading) toward that day when we will all enjoy a new heaven and a new earth. (Revelation 21...Oops! I gave away the ending! Sorry:-)

One final thought, the New Living Translation's rendering of Genesis 1:2 is a perfect description of my life outside a realtionship with my Creator, "...empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness."

Hope Happens!
Pastor David