finding the foundation

Today was a special day for Taboo Arts. After six years of praying in and for Camden (a neighbourhood in north London that I've talked about incessantly on here for the past three years), today we met with two other churches and had a church meeting there. It's been on our heart to start church in Camden for several years now. Today, as we crowded into the basement of a coffee shop a few blocks from the Camden Stables Market, we saw the beginnings of an answer to our prayers.

God has been teaching me a lot about faithfulness. Being faithful means remaining consistent with God and taking steps forward with Him even when I don't see an outcome. We have been visiting Camden every week. We have been building relationships with stall owners in the market, with shop keepers on the High Street, and even with estate agents as we look for a property of our own. And many days, we get frustrated, because we want to be in Camden now. We want to interact with the people there when we pop to the corner shop for a Coke, when we go for a run, when we get on the bus.

Today, God reminded me that this is a time when He is letting us see the dream. We had church in Camden today. We saw the fruits of our faithfulness.

But at the same time, we looked back on churches that have been planted in Camden and are no longer holding meetings. The people that planted those churches also had dreams for Camden. They invested their hearts and hands, as well. The work that we want to do will not be done on a place with no foundation. The soil has been prepared by others before us, others who, like Abraham and David and Isaiah, looked forward to a promise of a Saviour, a promise that was not fulfilled in their lifetime. But their dedication and work was important to pave the way for that Saviour.

Sometimes we are faithful, and we do not get to see the results. Sometimes we are faithful, and we have to remain faithful for years without achieving what we desire. Our team has a lot of dreams for Camden; starting church in Camden is just one of them. There are a dozen other things that we have as a team and as individuals that we are having to continue to wait on.

Faithfulness doesn't stand still. Waiting isn't a lack of motion.

We have to invest time on our knees for these dreams that we have, because where we invest our hearts is where we invest our lives. We have to give up the things that God asks us to give up, because if He wants them gone, then they have no place where we are going. We have to trust, to lean in, to go deeper, to say "Yes!" To learn to love those around us deeply, because where we are going, we will need to know a love that is stronger than our superficial human hearts.

Today we got a glimpse.

And now we walk another mile.