scratch it

Wednesday May 8^th, Acts 16:  9-10 That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans. Dreams can lead us in many different ways, some good and some not so good. The difference in our dreams often comes about by what it is we steep our life in.  When we live our lives in prayer, we live our lives steeped in God and our lives take on the flavors of that God life.  For Paul, dreams were one way God spoke to him and moved the gospel once again beyond pre-conceived boundaries of this world, from Jerusalem, Judea and onto the ends of the earth.  Paul was already operating beyond the comfort boundary of the church by ministering to the Gentiles.  God had taken him north out of Israel, across present day Lebanon, Syria and up into Turkey and then west to the shore of the Aegean Sea.  From across the Aegean, on the shores of present day Greece God moved the Good News from the Mid-East to the southern shores of Europe.  God’s boundaries are always far ahead of what we consider acceptable, safe or comfortable.  When and if we get there, we find that God is already there waiting for us to show up and get to work.  What boundaries does your faith community need to cross today in order to go where God is waiting for you?  What safe boundaries do you need to cross only to find God waiting for you?  If you feel the itch to get moving, perhaps it is time to pack up and scratch it.