Farmington is as small-town Maine as small-town Maine gets. Actually there are other smaller towns in Maine, but as a snob from Toronto, they just don’t appear on my radar. Farmington is, you guessed it, a farming community. It is one of those towns that you tend to drive through to get somewhere else, even though it is the hometown of Chester Greenwood, the inventor of earmuffs and that’s nothing to sneeze at!

Our family knows of Farmington only because we’ve stayed there a few times coming or going between Toronto and the Maritimes. This time around we noticed fewer motels and less activity. This small-town seems to be getting smaller. At least that was the consensus until we came across a sign that suggested a different trend.

The sign was positioned in the most prominent part of Farmington. Even I couldn’t miss it! Its message was a bold one to say the least–“God still plans to make Farmington His New Jerusalem—soon!” I had to read the sign a few times to make sure I was reading it properly. I mean, I guess I am out of the heavenly loop. I didn’t get the memo that explained, first time around, that Farmington was the place God had chosen for DD (Divine Development) and now I was being told that this was STILL God’s plan. Maybe I should pay closer attention to my email? Still, I should have guessed there was something special about Farmington when such a small town has a WalMart.

At the same time I felt a bit disappointed. I’ve been preaching for years that we could think of the most breathtaking images we have ever seen, multiply them by a billion and still not have any kind of a concept about the majesty of our heavenly condos. Well if Farmington is it, the New Jerusalem is going to be slightly more modest than my imagination led me to believe. Do cutbacks go that high up? Maybe it’s just that God hasn’t started phase one of His ‘Extreme Home Makeover’ yet and I need to reserve my opinion for a later date. Regardless, that sign certainly caught my imagination. I couldn’t get its message out of my head. I wondered about who was behind it.

My first thought was that it was some group lead by a self-proclaimed prophet from the Jimmy Jones School of Evangelism located in Waco, Texas. If you’ve been in Christian circles for any length of time, you have probably met one or two of these people. They tend to worship on their own, having forsaken their Babylon (the established Church), and they tend to have a real good handle on what God wants you to do.

I met someone like this not once, but twice. One meeting was in Charlottetown, PEI. The other occurred after just after moving back to Toronto. What are the chances? Anyway, his deal was that the Apostle Paul was the antichrist and that Armageddon would happen in Quebec and somehow the Hell’s Angels and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney were in on it. He was very adamant that all of this was revealed to him as he studied the Word.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not making fun of this individual. My heart went out to him. He really felt called to proclaim this message sacrificially and he clearly lived a life of single-focussed service that puts most people, including myself, to shame. If he would have allowed me to help him, I would have.

My second thought was a bit more positive: what if the sign is a vision statement? What if, by faith, the Christians in Farmington have this plan that is so outrageously ambitious that those who drive by shake their heads and go, “no way, not here!”? Hey, it’s possible! After all, small towns have a good track record with God. Didn’t Bethlehem win the bid for Jesus’ birth over Jerusalem, so why not Farmington? What if those who paid for this sign are also paying for the vision through prayer and love and sacrifice?

To be honest, my cynical side makes me lean toward the first option, but what if? It makes me curious about what I will see next time we travel through Maine.

When was the last time you and your congregation took such a God-prompted, ginormous step of faith that it made others scratch their heads and laugh? Has that ever happened to you or your congregation? If it hasn’t, why not? Have you even asked God for that kind of a vision? I’d love to be part of a church that was radically determined to do things too big to be accomplished on their own. I’d love to be part of a church that makes people laugh and shake their heads and say, “How did they do that?” I’d rather be part of a church with audacious vision than one with contented dreams. Let’s face it: I blend in better with nuts, if you don’t believe me, just look at my friends!

Most likely you went on holidays this past summer. When did your holidays begin? Was it when you threw the last bag in the car and your wife checked to see if the stove and the iron were off for the third time or was it when you got to where you were going?

I and the family have just recently returned from holidaying in Nova Scotia. We went to visit some dear friends and stayed at their trailer. (Peter and Debbie et al, you guys rock!) For me the holidays started as soon as the car was moving. Actually, if truth be told , it started as soon as I got out of Toronto traffic. It is hard to be in the holiday state of mind when you are thinking thoughts about the guy who just cut you off that will require some heavy repenting!

For my kids, though, as good as they were, and as much as they slept, they really didn’t enjoy the travelling part as much as I. Don’t get me wrong. They are amazing travellers. Never once have they uttered those fateful words: “Are we there yet?” But there was the occasional question about where we were as they moaned and snored and moved in and out of consciousness.

Part of the enjoyment of this trip for me was the fact that we went to Nova Scotia via the States. Having lived in the Maritimes for twelve years , this particular trip through upper New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, not to mention New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is one of my absolute favourite drives. There is so much variety!

This time around, though, it was the first time I took this route as an OAP (Obsessed Amateur Photographer). Thus most of my travel conversation had something to do with all the great shots I was missing along the way. I wonder if that had anything to do with my kids lack of enjoyment? Nah! Still, after a while I sensed that some in the van were getting tired of me pointing and sighing and mumbling, so I consolidated my comments into one word: “click.” Every time I went by something that I’d have loved to have stopped and take a picture of, I would, in wistful tones, say “click”. In some places my click counter was keeping time with the kilometre clicks on my odometer!

This was my way of letting the rest of the people in the car know that I was sacrificing prime artistic opportunities for their travelling sanity. I know, I know, you are impressed. I am just that kind of a sacrificial dad and father. I live to make my family happy. More to the point, Sheila also has keys to the car and I was afraid of being left behind with nothing left but my art and my thumb to keep me company.

To be fair, the rest of the van sacrificed some. There were a few times when I was actually allowed to stop to stretch and click. But, alas, those times were not enough to keep me from longing for all those could have been, but never were shots. Through the eyes of a salivating snap shooter I realized that there were absolutely hundreds of glimpses of beauty and life that I had never seen before. Some were spotted passing an intersecting road or through a clearing in the trees, or off in the distance. Some places could never be photographed, at least in the way I was travelling, because the roads were too busy, or there was nowhere to pull off. Some of these sites are most likely enjoyed by those who live near them, but some of them, I bet, are driven past and never noticed or appreciated by anybody. Oasis unnoticed. Bits of beauty just beyond the road that lies between points “A” and “B”.

This realization made me think about beauty from a different angle. Maybe it is just that I am more self-centred than most but, in the past when I’ve thought about the beauty of creation, I have thought about it in terms of my (and your) enjoyment. God put all this beauty in the world for us to enjoy and explore. It’s all about us! I still believe this to a certain extent. After all, God wants us to experience the beauty of His creation and then glorify His Name, but there is more to this beauty of creation thing that just us.

Beauty is everywhere, even places we can’t see. It’s in galaxies that can’t be seen even with the hubble telescope. It’s in things too small to be seen by the human eye. Beauty can be found on the highest of mountains and the deepest of seas–places none of us will ever visit. What’s the point? The point must be that beauty is in all of these places because God can’t help but create beauty. To put it another way, what God creates is beautiful by the very fact that God created it. Sure beauty is here for us to enjoy, but more than that, beauty is here because God is here.

Questions to ponder:

1. If your life isn’t beautiful right now, why is that? How much attention are you giving to God’s recreation of your life?

2. Could it be that there is more beauty in your life right now than you have noticed? Maybe you need to slow down and look for those intersections and clearings? Maybe you’re not looking to capture it? Everyone has more beauty in their life than they are noticing.

3. Beauty comes in many shapes and sizes. Maybe you can’t focus on it because you are too close to see the whole picture, or maybe you aren’t close enough to see all the beautiful detail. Either way, I am sure that God has created beauty in your life, now go find it, enjoy it and share it with others!

I have a confession to make-I am a scavenger of beauty. I hunt beauty down (with my camera) and capture it in the most unlikely places. I do this because I have a theology that tells me that finding beauty is more about attitude than it is about the eye.

I have always loved the beach. True, you expect to find beauty at the beach, unless Speedos and hairy backs are in abundant supply, but still- the water, the surf, the shoreline, the driftwood, the soothing sounds and smells-that’s beauty. What I have noticed, though, since I have frequented several of Toronto’s beaches is that many of them are covered with what can only be considered construction waste. We are talking about bricks, concrete slabs, bits of broken tile, and even asphalt. They do this in areas where erosion is a problem.

This isn’t the kind of shoreline you would expect to find in most places. Neither is it the kind of shoreline you would really WANT to find in most places. After all, I don’t think asphalt is on anyone’s list of beautiful things, but look at the photo that accompanies this article. You may not be impressed by this bit of shoreline, but to me this collection of colours and shapes is uniquely beautiful. Look at the bright reds and the creamy yellows of the brick. Check out the flecks of yellow and white in the concrete. Notice how the individual pieces have been moulded and shaped into beautiful curves and orbs. The hard edges are gone. The utilitarian shapes have given way to free flowing arcs of grace. The manmade is still evident, but it clearly has become something more than what man can make.

What is the cause of this transformation? I could talk about how each of these diamonds in the rough was kissed by the elements. That sounds romantic, but the reality is that it’s all about friction. It’s about being on the front lines where you are hit hard by the wind and waves. It’s about being exposed to the pressures and influences that rub and grind the rough edges away and turn the utilitarian into graceful works of art.

I want you to think about this the next time you have a conflict in your life, or the next time you think about leaving your church because of “those difficult people”. I want you to think about this the next time you’re laughed at for sharing your faith, or the next time you make a sacrifice that goes unnoticed. God uses the difficulties found in our relationships to take off our rough edges and shape us into something more graceful. He uses the friction that comes into our lives to erode the manmade and reveal the divine.

James explains this process with these words: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

One of my pet peeves in ministry is the advent of what I call the Honeymoon Christian. I have learned to spot them a mile away. They come to your church and gush over how they like this and how they love that. They enjoy that brief period of time when, for them, your church still has that “new-congregation smell”. Then the friction comes. There’s something they don’t like, or something with which they don’t agree. There is their first conflict. Or maybe it’s just the first time they are asked to serve or give or sacrifice. The honeymoon is over and off they go- not willing to deal with the friction. That’s why they stay manmade with all their hard edges intact. They short-circuit their growth because when the wind blows and the waves start to rise, they run for a safe harbour and no reshaping takes place.

Life is tough. We all want to give up sometimes. Occasionally, we all want to go somewhere else or do something else. We all get “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence syndrome”, but don’t give up. Persevere! Realize that giving up or moving on isn’t the answer. God wants you on the front lines of your congregation. He wants you on the front lines of your neighbourhoods, your workplaces, your schools. He knows that being there creates a lot of friction, but that friction is protecting our world from further erosion and it’s also shaping you into something more graceful, something with greater humility-a vessel with a great capacity for His love.

Finding beauty is more about the attitude than the eye. Persevere and you’ll find the beauty, and bonus of bonuses, you’ll become more beautiful yourself!