"Go down to the Potter's shop and i will speak to you there." So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. (Jeremiah 18:2-3)
We did many few different thihgs yesterday including going to a Spanish Church service, to a potter's house and going to see an active volcano. If i could find a common theme in the day it would be the molding or shaping that God does in our lives.
A Nicaraguan Church Service – what a blessing to be a part of. The joy, the passion, the enthusiasm are all contagious. What joy comes from those who have so little. What passion for God, from those whose lives face so much uncertainty. What enthusiastic praise to God in the face of poverty and turmoil. It leaves me asking: Have the very procession that I (we) hold so dear become the very distractions that detract from my joy, passion and enthusiasm? Would we be praising God with as much enthusiasm if He reformed our lives to mirror these people’s situation; if not us. our kid’s lives?
Next stop was the Potter’s house. There is something intriguing about the ide of going back in time. Our visit to the Potter's house was as close to that as I may ever see. The Potter's house we visited, I imagine, would have been very similar to the place God sent Jeremiah some 2600 years ago. The potter's wheel was foot powered, the tools were sharp but rudimentary, the kiln's heat was wood sourced, and the potter’s hand – filled with talent. Out of lump of clay, he effortlessly formed a vase, but as quickly as was formed, it was crushed, ready to be reshaped again. It was a vivid reminder of God's demonstration to Jeremiah, but also a vivid reminder of God's continual reforming and reshaping of us; God’s relentless pursuit to make us to be his masterpieces.
Only a quick stop to Grenada could be had, if we wanted to see the Masaya Volcano. If you ever doubt God’s ability to form a masterpiece out of the brokenness of your life; if you ever doubt God’s ability to remove obstacles a large as mountains in your life, I invite you to come to the Masaya Volcano. Pear into the immensity of its crater, breath in the continual steam spewing from below, feel the heat of the lava a 1000ft below and you will have a small sense of God’s power is, and how insignificant the mountains we face really are. If God is for us who can stand against us?
The last, but not least display of turning rudimentary ingredients into masterpieces was our stop at Atomic Pizza. A Nicaraguan experience of flavour. Each one of these 5 masterpieces were enjoyed by all!
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