Met with Mike Breaux yesterday (that’s pronounced ‘bro’ – usually Mike’s name gets butchered!). Since he is speaking at the Ancient-Future Conference at Willow later this month we needed to chat about his talk. What started out as a strategic meeting soon became a storytelling event. Mike was talking about how people had connected around a series he did recently called Coming up to Breathe shaped around the Bible and the 12 steps. So many people made decisions and took action to get their lives back on track—with God’s grace and help. Lot’s of us—the broken, wounded, and sin-stained creatures we are—found hope and help.

As we reflected on people’s reactions, it was clear that Mike’s teaching exposed all the relational breakdown we experience in this beautiful and fallen world. Fractured relationships with God and others is what frays the communal wiring running through our system. But when we get the relational deal right—when we start to clean up the mess we’ve made and invite God to redeem our pain and sin, great stuff happens. As he looked back on his recent series here at Willow and about his conference session, Mike spoke about all the gadgets we have—remotes, i-pods, i-phones, Treos, you name it—and said his favorite electronic gadget was the garage door opener. And he promised he’d talk about that more in his session. But in a nutshell he said that it was a metaphor for community. When the door is open it says, “I’m here…so stop by and say hello.” It invites people to hang around the driveway or the front yard and build some friendships. I loved it. He’s right. Maybe the garage door opener is the best gadget we have.