Planting

One day, I want to have a rose garden. I want roses of different colors and varieties. I love roses…they’re not your average flower. They are a little bit dangerous. They are fragrant. They are beautiful. They are civilized. They have thorns that will not think twice about cutting your fingers if you are not careful.

Roses require more care than your average flower. You have to prune and trim them regularly. At the end of the season, you are supposed to cut them all the way down so that the next year, they will grow back bigger and stronger. Roses have enemies…there are bugs that love roses more than I do…but, if I’m persistent and vigilant, I can win the battle over the insects.

I see Philadelphia as one huge, wild, untamed, unkempt rose garden. I see beauty all over, but I also see the thorns sticking out of people. There is a blight over my city–the blight of depression, cynicism, anger, hopelessness. We love our sports teams yet we don’t care about our neighbors.

I am a part of a church planting team here in Philadelphia. We’re planting a church called City Life Church. We are a life-giving church so that the one far from Christ will be filled with life from Christ.

I’m really excited to see what God does. People have moved their lives, their families to this city to plant this church. I’m buckling up and getting prepared for the ride of a lifetime.