I forgot where I came across this idea or its basic derivative. I read so much and I wish I could say that it was drawn from the genius department of my own mind but I just had a meeting with myself and we took a vote and it was unanimous that this is TOO good to have come from me alone.
Orientation > Disorientation > Reorientation .This is the theme of great movies, great stories AND great lives. Its application is found in the life of believers and the journey that life inevitably will take us on. We see this no more clearly in the life of the disciple Thomas who was called by Jesus into the 12(ORIENTATION…Matt 10:3). All is well and the world makes sense until his mentor and leader gets crucified. And although he was connected in community his head was spinning (DISORIENTATION). For Peter, on the walking on water, the disorientation lasted for a moment. Lazarus was in the tomb 4 days. Noah was on the ark 370 days. The children of Isreal were in the desert 40 years… No matter how long the disorientation the voice of God ALWAYS will come to call us back to bring about reorientation.
John 20:27-28 (NLT) Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
Maybe God allows us to be disoriented not so we might be lost but that when we become reoriented our faith with be richer and deeper and our faith story will be and epic one.
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I have walked this path more then once. The disorientation can seem so extreme at times, but there is a peace knowing that God is in full control. I would never have come to this place in my life if it was not for those times of disorientation.
In case you haven’t discovered the source of orientation – disorientation – reorientation, it comes from Walter Brueggemann’s book “The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary”