Failing Mall? - Answer to flooding?
One of the most amazing things that seems to happen during times of crisis and tragedy is the re-birth of things that we once considered dead. Take for example Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Once an icon of commercial retail, for the past several years this mall has been losing both customers and retailers. This has been of great concern to the community as this large commercial space has felt like an empty tomb. Yet, the people of Cedar Rapids have not given up hope and have continued to dream that the space would one day be used again.
And it has! As the flood waters recently rose, the government center of Cedar Rapids has been displaced. In need of a new home, the government, local businesses, and FEMA have found an open, available, and convenient location in Westdale Mall!
This reminds me a lot of the theological belief that life comes through death. In order to find true life, the full life that Jesus Christ offers us, one must die to self and be willing to put away one's old ways and sinful nature in order to embrace God's order and love which brings LIFE!
It also requires hope. Sometimes when things get tough it becomes difficult to hope for a renewal of life. But, just as the emptied Westdale Mall has created room for continued life in the Cedar Rapids community, so too, when we die to self and the world, emptying ourselves of that which is not honoring to God, we create room for the new life that is "in-store" for us.
Jesus Christ came to give us life and life to the fullest! To die to self, isn't a physical death or a death of loss of confidence, but rather a willingness to allow our plans to die in order for God's greater plans to prevail. It is to see oneself and one's view of life in comparison to a greater worldview in which God is active, present, personal, real, and has the bigger picture.
What are the mall's in your life?
And it has! As the flood waters recently rose, the government center of Cedar Rapids has been displaced. In need of a new home, the government, local businesses, and FEMA have found an open, available, and convenient location in Westdale Mall!
This reminds me a lot of the theological belief that life comes through death. In order to find true life, the full life that Jesus Christ offers us, one must die to self and be willing to put away one's old ways and sinful nature in order to embrace God's order and love which brings LIFE!
It also requires hope. Sometimes when things get tough it becomes difficult to hope for a renewal of life. But, just as the emptied Westdale Mall has created room for continued life in the Cedar Rapids community, so too, when we die to self and the world, emptying ourselves of that which is not honoring to God, we create room for the new life that is "in-store" for us.
Jesus Christ came to give us life and life to the fullest! To die to self, isn't a physical death or a death of loss of confidence, but rather a willingness to allow our plans to die in order for God's greater plans to prevail. It is to see oneself and one's view of life in comparison to a greater worldview in which God is active, present, personal, real, and has the bigger picture.
What are the mall's in your life?
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