Uffizi Mission Project

“One Small Step for <a> Man; One Giant Leap for Mankind” - supposedly this is what Neil Armstrong said upon walking on the moon.  No one has ever been able to discern the “a” in his announcement.  Needless to say, he walked on the moon!  (go to www.youtube.com and listen to Brian Regan talk about “I walked on the moon” to get a few extra laughs)

Now, the Uffizi Mission is not about walking on the moon, but it is about “one small step.”  It is basically all we can do.

At the beginning of the ministry, I could not explain the vision beyond I was supposed to follow God and open the doors of the Uffizi Museum for the church in Santa Barbara.  (see the about the Uffizi Mission page)  My friends, ex-friends, no longer friends, and becoming friends were quite confused by the whole thing.  But, for the first time in my life, I was getting the “faith” thing…

We read the Bible, but we don’t get it.  We clean it all up because now we can see from this side.  We read the whole story of Abraham, but he had to live it.  We get to witness the faith of Joshua, but he had to have it.  We swoon at the song of Mary as she considers the wonder of birthing the Messiah, but she had to deliver him, raise him, and let go of Him to the work of the Father.  Faith is raw, emotional, desperate and a great clinging.  It is not intellectual alone.

And more than anything else, it is about taking a small step.  And it may be about taking a small step where no one else has gone or been willing to go.  (This is the only way that we are close to the idea of walking on the moon)

 But, the small steps are paying off.  One small step may in fact lead to hundreds joining in.  You can’t find a biblical matriarch or patriarch who did not start by taking one small step.  And by far what we are talking about is more important that a moon waltz, it is a Kingdom of God welcoming event - where heaven meets earth.

But, I can’t let you off the hook.  I am wondering why most people are Christians of late - is it to escape hell or to follow Jesus?  Now, that is an important question.  It goes back to core of the gospel, and the actual call of Christ.  I believe none of us who hold the name of Jesus dear can argue other than we must follow our Lord.  Of course following Him means inheriting salvation and eternal life, but it is in the following that we are saved.  The first step is receiving, but there are many more steps to be taken.

Have your own moon landing this week - take the step you need to - the one that Jesus is asking for… each step is one small step for a woman or a man, but one giant leap for the Kingdom.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 7:47 am and is filed under postmodernism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.