Time to take time to blog.

I hit the silly tired wall a few minutes ago. I assume that many of you know this wall. It happens when you’re really tired and things become really funny. In my case I started talking about how great of a film D3: The Mighty Ducks was…that was a tad off base to say the least. 

I have been thinking about the Holy Spirit lately. He’s really confusing. I think that for a long time I have tried to imagine what I assume God is doing. It works only so well. Recently, I discovered something obvious: I don’t see the Holy Spirit. I notice it, but I don’t see it like I see a tree or a bicycle or another human being. The Spirit of God moves and no one knows where He goes or where He came from. This may seem a bit convoluted and yes I know that we see God in other people and other places, but that to me resembles catching a glimpse of someone right before they walk around a corner. They’re there, but you can’t quite get a feel for in what capacity or how. 

I think God is like that a lot. He’s always working, He’s always around, but He isn’t seen (at least not in an overt way). I don’t really understand why that’s so strange to me. I guess it never really quite occured to me in this way before, that I believe in and worship a God that I have never seen. This doesn’t really affect my faith in Him, but it did surprise me when I realized the depths to which that may confuse other people. I believe the testimony of witnesses (the apostles) who saw the Risen Christ and through whom God built the church…but the way some people talk about Jesus, you feel like they’ve shook hands with him. Although…can I really say that I haven’t?

If people bear the image of God (and I believe they do), then each and every person is someone in whom a bit of God dwells. The image of God is in all of us, whether we be Christian or not. Jesus died for all of us, Christian and not. In that line of thinking, how do we learn to see others as that? How do we make steps towards being able to see with the eyes of the mysterious and unseen Spirit of God? 

Sometimes I really want God to tell me lots of things. I would love His opinion on lots of little things, but I am realizing that maybe God doesn’t necessarily care if I have yogurt in my oatmeal or not…maybe He just wants me to share the time I am eating oatmeal with Him. There’s another thing. 

Lots of people are graduating soon. Some of them plan on striking out for bigger and better things. Some of them (I assume) to prestigious roles in groundbreaking communities and businesses. I don’t think this is what God has for me for the next while after graduation. I do get to work at camp, which is great. However, I also plan on coming back to Seattle and getting a job for a bit after the summer ends. I think that however, the task for all of us is very similar. We are to live in relationship with the LORD. Every single day. All the time. If you think about it, that is a huge task. Learning to live in relationship with God is scary and challenging, I think moreso in a lifestyle that people would label “small.”

When asked if a janitor bring glory to God by being a janitor, people would answer yes. Yet, if they were asked if they wanted to be a janitor, most would say no. Unless someone happens to have an unusual penchant for cleaning stuff. There’s the problem though. I think that we all have bought into this idea that following Jesus will be entail the sort of life that movie stars live in film, only in real life. I guess that we read the bible and see stories of pillars of fire, battles, water changing to wine, people raising from the dead, people being lowered out of windows, etc… and we think that our lives should be that way all the time. Well, they’re not…and I don’t think they need to be.

When I read the bible I notice things like “Abraham traveled through the land as far as the site of the Great tree of Moreh…” This was after God called him. Abraham traveled with all his stuff for awhile. It didn’t seem like the Lord was constantly dropping memos to him in the process. When He stopped, the Lord spoke. Interesting. The point I am trying to make is this: Abraham walked a long way, so did Jesus. You cannot tell me that the disciples or Abraham had the best and most “super keen” time on the road everyday. I think that sometimes it must have been boring. It’s hot in the middle east. Some days I bet they were just out walking. All day. Have you been out in the sun all day? You don’t say much sometimes. It’s rather dull.

I suppose it would be nice if people would take the time to tell you that following Christ costs everything you are, even your expectations for how fun it will be. At the end of the day I didn’t start following Jesus because it was fun. I hope you didn’t either. Just wanted to throw it out there that it’s necessary for a relationship with God to factor in the little things, because eventually…that’s what life is made out of.