Revival

When two atoms collide something cosmically extraordinary happens. At the smallest scale matter and energy meet creating a flash and raw power is released.

Physicists built the Large Hadron Collider to make those collisions on purpose. It is beyond my full comprehension, but I get the basics of it.

For a fraction of a second, they can recreate the conditions that existed right after the Big Bang and watch new particles appear out of the energy they feed into it.

Energy is never created or destroyed. It only changes form. What we see as “new” is really a transformation.

So, two tiny atoms in the infinitesimal universe can spark a lasting chain reaction. When they meet, their energy transforms and sends ripples that last long after the instant of collision.

The energy must go somewhere.

Now zoom out from my impromptu lesson on particle physics and look at what just happened in the last few weeks.

Charlie Kirk was one atom and his assassin another. On their own, they carry potential. When they collided in that brief moment, massive energy was dispersed.

That energy collision fueled chaos and grief, anger and hate. It also released a different kind of energy. One that awakens people. One that opens eyes and spirits. Good and bad can collide and in a split second create a Big Bang of spiritual energy that ripples through generations. We are feeling those ripples long before we can even measure them.

This is bigger than politics. It is bigger than any ego. The same God who set every atom in motion is still holding all of it together. He calls us to step back, admit how minute we are and have trust in his plan and faith in the design we that cannot see in full.

We suddenly start to love God and love our neighbor. We forgive because we are forgiven. We stop trying to win every argument and start trying to heal what is broken. We saw it during 9/11 and we are experiencing it again in this tragedy.

The physics lesson above reminds us that nothing is wasted. The energy of love, forgiveness, and faith cannot be destroyed. When good and evil collide, the explosion can feel like chaos descending into darkness.

In the moment of the collision it seems chaotic. But even then, it’s all part of the science of God’s plan. Revival. True spiritual revival, not religious revival, begins when us ordinary people carry the smallest spark of grace and peace, into every collision and every conversation, and let God do his will beyond anything we can imagine.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” - John 8:12

Ryan Chowansky is the owner of Bluffton Builders, LLC, www.bluffton.builders.