Last night I went to a prayer meeting. I love prayer meetings. You get to hang out with people you would never normally spend time with.

There is a man who goes to the meeting I go to. He looks like a Christian. In fact, like a Theology professor. I don’t actually know what he does. He is earnest and wise and I love him.

He shared a beautiful passage of scripture last night that was so timely for us as we prayed. It was from Zechariah 2 about Jerusalem being a “city without walls.”
[a]Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 I asked, “Where are you going?”
He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”

3 While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him 4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. 5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’

That word feels completely right for us as a church right now. And in a number of ways, it also accurately describes my life. There are few defining boundaries and few defining people. Things are open, interesting, varied and transitional. Not just for me. For a lot of people I know and love too.

The next part of the same scripture describes the Lord as being the boundary around us. He is the one who hems us in, behind and before. He is the one who places the boundary lines in pleasant places. It is He who defines us, not others, not our skills, experiences or circumstances.

I am so grateful to my sandal+sock=beard-wearing friend for this truth. How precious are God’s words to us in season?! (Oh and ironically, this new season’s must-wear item for men IS….. socks and sandals.)