“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15NIV
It's very early in the morning and I am in my home office. The wind is howling outdoors whipping up the 3 inches of light snow we received yesterday. The temp is somewhere below zero. So it feels like way below zero if you're outside.
Bill and I talk and debrief about our trip to Jordan constantly. We chitchat about moments shared or lost depending on how conversations developed or didn't. Brilliant images of people and places flash in my mind as we unpack the suitcases of our souls. It can feel like I am watching old-fashioned reel to reel movies edited together to make a romantic adventure movie. This practice helps keep the experience close to me. It constantly places me within a web of complex memories I desperately hold onto for fear of them draining into the Sea of Forgetfulness.
Everything in the Middle East is intense for me. The weather, language, food and music are intermingled resembling an original exclusive script written by ancient authors that defy the limitations of time and space. The desert is the great keeper of secrets. Espionage, agreements, love, war, blood and money drift atop the sand or rock revealed to those who are willing to witness. The heart of the Middle Eastern people can be discovered in their incessant commitment to their code. My experiences always leave a God-sized stamp on the passport of my heart.
Maybe there is a place like this for you. It's the place where the environment is rich beyond measure perhaps not in quantitative elements but more in the elegant qualities of soul. This is a place where people share a commitment to honesty and others are bold about exposing their inadequacies and struggles. This is a place where life and death are close. The intense passion can leave you breathless, vulnerable and longing for more.
For those who follow the Way, the Truth and the Life, nothing less will do. But, strangely, I think we settle for engaging an emotive placebo that dangerously tempts us to believe how we feel is somehow connected to what we believe about God. Maybe that's what we call spirituality or Christianity. I don't believe for one second Jesus came to bring us a lackluster life. Jesus said, "A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest." John 10:10CEV
Are you living the life you want?
Does what you believe about Jesus intensify your passion, leave you breathless, vulnerable and longing for more?
Do the demons that addict, enslave and oppress scare you or bring you alive as you reach for your sword and put on your armor?
They say confession is good for the soul. Maybe life is meant to be more than an old-fashioned, reel to reel film. Maybe life is meant be more real than you ever possibly dreamed or imagined.
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 NIV