There's news of God doing some exciting things in Sarnia, Ontario. Large crowds, sustained meetings (21 days and counting...) and some extraordinary things taking place as God powerfully changes people's lives. To quote Martha Stewart "that's a good thing..." and it is. For some this will be the "silver bullet" for the church and we will get on airplanes, busses and into our cars to get to "Sarnia". This too is a good thing because it speaks in part of spiritual hunger and the search for freshness.

I had an "aha" moment a few years ago. If my heart was to suddenly stop beating, medical professionals would put those electric paddles on me, yell "clear", jolt me, watch me flop like a fish and hopefully my heart would begin to beat again. To me, that's a picture of revival. A drastic supernatural intervention that "re-starts" our spiritual heart beat. If the doctors were to keep jolting me with the paddles, they would eventually kill me because the heart wasn't made to endure that many "big" shocks, and yet this is what we are constantly asking God to do with the church. We pray "revive us" God. Jolt us again so that we can be what we were before.

I would fully expect that if I needed paddles to start my heart beating again, my doctor would want to talk with me about the necessary changes that needed to happen in my life so that this would no longer be necessary. In other words I would need to reform my diet and exercise habits. The same is true in the church. Revival may get us going for a while, but it is REFORMATION that we need to experience. Reformation calls for an entire re-shaping of the way we think, what we say, what we do and how we do it. Think "Holmes on Homes" in the church. Reformation means that what currently isn't working would get tossed or fixed so that it would do what it's supposed to. If you've seen Holmes, you know he's ruthless and getting rid of what doesn't work Imagine how the Holy Spirit might work if we gave Him permission to do the same.

I love the church. I just think some things have to change.