Beautiful Things

Every Sunday after the message at Crosspoint, the worship team ends with one last song. The song is always relevant to the message, typically one that is on the radio and most of the body knows. This past Sunday, though, the band sang a song I had never heard before... but can't stop hearing now. Everywhere I look I am reminded of its lyrics.

I know it was written long before the Nashville floods, but it's almost as if Gungor's "Beautiful Things" was tailor made specifically for these moments in this city.

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

As the band played, pictures of our "Serving Saturday" were playing on the screen. We spent the day in some of the hardest hit areas gutting houses, saving pictures, and loving on the homeowners. The devastation was obvious, but throughout the pictures a new theme emerged: hope. Even amidst the gutted houses and destroyed memories, there was joy. The pain was still present, but something new was stirring. Love was in action.

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

These floods have taught me a lot about God's character. But it has also shown me the character of His people. In the midst of tragedy and devastation, the Church jumped to its feet in action. No, we didn't have experience in flood relief - very few had ever experienced something like this before. What the Church did, though, was react. And reactions reveal character. Mark Batterson once said "In my experience, it's much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one. Anyone can put on an act. But your reactions reveal what is really in your heart."

It's been nice attending a church for the past year that acts like Christians. We claim we're committed to reaching the lost, dedicated to being "real" and Christ-like and we say we're accepting of everyone. We say anything is possible. But saying that is one thing.

Read this again:

"In my experience, it's much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one. Anyone can put on an act. But your reactions reveal what is really in your heart."
Mark Batterson

Saying what we claim is easy. It's much harder to react like that. But they did. We did. And let me tell you - it's a beautiful thing.

"And we know all things work together for good
for those that love God, for those called according to His purpose."
Romans 8:28

He can make anything glorious.
He takes your rags and turns them to riches.
He spoke into the darkness and created light.
He breathed into dust to create mankind.

Pete always says "we serve a God who specializes in resurrections." And we do. He makes beautiful things out of the dust, the rubble, the flooded houses and empty hearts. He makes beautiful things out of us: the broken, jacked up people that He loves so much. He makes beautiful things out of floods. He makes beautiful things out of Nashville.

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You