So, what are  your thoughts about the world these days and what is happening? I’m writing this in January 2024 and it seems like each week an entirely new conflict is launched. One more “strong man” is declaring evil on his part of the world. Governments are making decisions and trying to convince their constituents and other governments that they have the right way through this.

People talk to their friends, at church, in coffee shops, “over the fence” in their backyard with their opinions on who is right and who is wrong. Some of these conversations bring people together, some pull people apart.

How did we get here? And where is God in all of this?

Perhaps we are all being distracted by the big things and are missing the small things.

Recently I was guided through multiple scriptural reflections on the characters surrounding the birth of Jesus – Zecharian, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds. All around them was chaos. Oppression from Roman leaders, heavy taxation, Jewish religious leaders trying to maintain a sense of control in the midst of it all.

And yet, God was doing his thing, the way that God so often does. Not in the big but in the small.

I’ve read these stories many times, yet this time, in a new way, the Spirit took me deeper. All of these unknown people, simply living life the best they could in their circumstances. Yet God was on the move, using who was willing to listen to his angels when they showed up and asked them to participate in a grand plan. 

How often have we read these stories and perhaps laughed at the leaders of the time, yet then we get distracted by the leaders of our time and perhaps we are missing out on what God is actually doing. Maybe we are no different.

I believe we can assume that God is still on the move, in small ways, with people who no one would ever consider capable of being used by God. People who are simply and consistently seeking to know God more, to honour him the best they know how in the situation they find themselves in. And I believe that God is prompting them, not to do great things per se, but the small thing he has for them to do, the thing that is part of God’s great plan. 

Perhaps an angel has even showed up in your life and asked you to step into something. Can you hear it, see it? Are you saying yes? Or are you too distracted by “Rome” and the “religious leaders” posturing that you aren’t aware that God is on the move, maybe even in your life.

A recent podcast I listened to gave a great description of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the example of a true disciple. Mary simply said, “Use all of me.” And Mary didn’t hold back in even offering her womb in the way that God chose to use it.

So how about you? What are you looking for? What frequency is your radar set to? Are you distracted by the big stuff? Or are you seeing how God is actually moving, with the Zechariahs, Elizabeths, Josephs, Marys, Shepherds – and you.

For the kingdom.

I’ve heard it said that you are the average of your five closest friends. Interesting idea to ponder. So, who are my five closest friends? What do they have in common with me? And why have they moved into that category? 

Conversely, why have I not been invited into friendship with some people? What is it about me that some don’t want me in their inner circle of friendship?

Now I recognize that we only have capacity for so many relationships. There is an outer circle of perhaps up to 150 people we know some things about, we recognize in social settings and could perhaps enjoy dinner with every few years. This circle continues to get smaller as we enjoy deeper connections. Yet at the core, it is probably only about 5 people that we have the time and mental capacity to have extremely deep friendships with.

So, if the number is limited, who will your friends be?

In the past month, I’ve started using the phrase “foggy friends” to talk about those that I desire to have closest to me, and in reality, I believe that these are the ones that are in my “inner circle”. 

When I first told my wife about this, I got a strange look. Perhaps this is your response. In some ways, foggy may imply lack of clarity, uncertainty.

Yet for me it is quite the opposite. It is all about living on mission. To have such a sense of the future, of where you need to be heading, of God calling you to something, and yet you have very little to go on in how to get there. Yet you are still willing to move ahead the 5 feet you can see in front of you and nothing more because of the fog. You believe that beyond the fog there is that place that you will get to, maybe in a week, or a month, or a year, or perhaps not even in your lifetime. But you are still willing to go there, and you are going to do it with your friends who also believe in it. Many around may question your sanity, but you know that you only need a few foggy friends who will continue to be your encouragement and sounding board.

Now I do know that we all have certain personalities, and that some of us are more apt to live in “the stretch” of the unknown. And yet, as I’ve travelled globally and engaged with Christians around the world of all different personalities, I’ve recognized more that my culture, and let me specifically talk about the church culture in general terms, does not want to live in the fog. They want plans and budgets and things all lined up – wait until the fog lifts – before moving forward, small and big things.

Yet if we are called to live by faith, we need to get used to the fog. 

Now I can look out and wonder why others aren’t living this way, but in reality I can do nothing about that. What I can do is choose how I am going to live.

So if I am the average of my 5 closest friends, and if I want to live by faith, not knowing fully how to get where I believe I’m called to go, then I want to make sure that I have foggy friends to do life with. How about you?

For the kingdom.