Generation (noun): a type or class of objects usually developed from an earlier type

In the movie Sunshine, astronauts are on a desperate mission to save mankind. The sun is dying, and they have the materials necessary to give it a "jump start", so to speak. It is a final push, as the mission had already been attempted and failed.

Cassie, one of the astronauts, asks another astronaut upon his awakening:
"Good dream? Let me guess…the surface of the sun? Only dream I ever have. Every time I shut my eyes it's always the same."

This quote has been restlessly poking at my mind for a few months. I am realizing now how it fits so well with another movie scene that has been with me for almost a year, battered by my thoughts like a stone on an ocean shore.

The riders of Rohan arrive to Minas Tirith to find it besieged by the seemingly immeasurable armies of Mordor. The situation appears quite hopeless, for though the Rohirrim are a cavalry of several thousand, engaging in battle seems like a death sentence. Yet, defiantly, they raise their spears and swords, sound their horns, and shout "Death!" with such force and acceptance that I get goose bumps thinking about it. They charge in to wage war against the all-consuming, unmerciful evil.

Both of these movies are overflowing with self-sacrifice for the good of people in dire need, who otherwise have no hope of making it. In Sunshine, the mission is all consuming to the point where all that can be seen in the subconscious is the surface of the sun. All die as a result of the mission, some consumed by the very sun itself, but they succeed and the fate of the earth is postponed. In Return of the King, the battle cry "Death!" is a resolution of doom, of resigning ones self to a bloody end for the sake of a city of people who are overwhelmed by an enemy seething with hatred.

Without wanting to sound too melodramatic, that is how I want to live my life. Resolving to die to myself and charge into the fray, giving myself to reach out to people who are ravaged by the enemy of the one true God. Recently, I have been reading in the book of Ephesians. I was struck by the very familiar phrase of how God has prepared good works "in advance" for us to do. Once again it brings me around to the question of "what is it that I am to do?"

Part of the answer to that question is carried out on the micro level, and I think that gets overlooked. Day by day, there may be opportunities that God has created to bring forth the good news about the peace offering he made millennia ago, as well as opportunities to represent His love and mercy and grace, and justice and holiness, to a broken and corrupt world. Jesus' ministry and outreach was full of these opportunities to heal and teach.

These micro-events cannot be forgotten in the business of living day to day life. I've realized how very easy it is to get distracted by the things we must do to function in life. Working, driving, eating, time with family - all good things, but the steady cadence can dull the mind. I want to stand at attention, not at ease.

But as for the macro-level answer to "what am I to be doing?", I do believe that one can receive an answer to this question from the Lord. It may not make sense at first, and it may take a lifetime to come to fruition. Jesus had a clear big-picture purpose that he continually alluded to throughout the time of His ministry - the cross. I've been seeking the answer to this question for a long time. Somehow, some way, the answer has to do with the next generation.

It stuck out to me last summer as I was worshipping the Lord with my brothers and sisters in New Zealand. Before leaving on the trip, the word "generation" had been bothering me, like the above quotes and scenes have bothered me. The song "Hosanna" by Hillsong has the following verse in it:

"I see a generation
rising up to take their place
with selfless faith,
selfless faith,
I see a near revival,
Stirring as we pray and seek,
We're on our knees,
On our knees."

I don't think it's a mistake, looking back, that Arise Church has a heart for a new generation. Looking back, it seems that it was the right place for me to go, to see what was happening in New Zealand: a surge of young people rising to take their place and serve the Lord.

God has prepared good works in advance for us to do. What has He prepared for the next generation? How am I a part of it?

Recently I have been so moved by how active the Lord truly is in the world. I've been reading with piqued interested the newsletters that are coming in from our missionaries at the church, have heard marvelous reports from missionaries visiting in person over this last month.

We're all caught up in the mighty purposes of our Father. His story, not ours. Our lives are hardly a paragraph of a chapter in His story, the story of eternal glory and wonder interacting with broken depravity. It's all so big, and puts my own life in perspective. But humbly I offer it, and hope that I, like the Rohirrim, can cry "Death!" as I charge into the fray.