Caesar from Soma shares the Story of God.

When I told people in Louisville that I was coming out to Tacoma, more than once I got in response the mysterious phrase, “oh, the aroma of Tacoma.”  Apparently, there’s a paper factory around here that gives the city a stinky reputation.  I haven’t smelled it yet.

In other smell-related thoughts, Les and Alison Groce taught Mickie and I in our pre-marital counseling to always be aware of the ‘aroma’ of our home.  That’s become a helpful indicator of how things are going for us.  For example, it stinks when we can’t seem to treat each other well and we can say the ‘aroma’ of our home is sweet when we’re being sweet with eachother.

So far this week, I’ve found the aroma of Tacoma to be quite nice.  I’m here along with four other Sojourn couples to learn from Soma Communities leaders.  They’re teaching us how they understand (1) the message of the gospel, (2) identities in the gospel, and (3) rhythms or practices because of the gospel.  The people here really have a loving vision for what it means to be a gospel-centered people on mission.

The best part has been spending two days mostly just hearing the story of the Bible being told in story form.  Seeing the redemptive arc of all history was really amazing – CREATION, FALL, REDEMPTION, COMPLETION.  God’s story is so genius.  All of the connections.  All of the richness.

The little white area that looks like a cloud is actually Mount Rainier.