Hey guys,
So this will be my first post on a blog....ever.
I'm not really sure how to read the posts because there is already page after page and it's all great stuff.
I've been struck during some of my Jesus times just the craziness that happens when Divine meets earth. It's always the unexplainable throw people into frenzies or onto their faces. It's always exciting to hear the "but God...!" turning point in the stories. God just has a radical way of causing time to stop and the earth to shake. And going off of the Captain Awkward thing, Jesus always says and does the craziest stuff that makes a wild man be still, or lightning and thunder to roar and dead men coming from their graves.
I think perhaps Peter was fishing because it was something under his control. When Jesus comes on the scene, everything collides and makes something beautiful. Their empty nets are tearing and Peter is jumping off the side of the boat.... This is what happens when the Divine meets earth.
When Jesus is asking Peter if he loves him, I think he is asking him, "Are you IN this...for life?" Jesus follows this up by telling him of his radical death.
There are so many stories like this in the Bible, and even when I look back on my own life, and I'm sure you all could say the same. The word I am looking for is POWER.
So easily I get stuck in the "mundane" things of life, and I stop seeing this POWER. When the crippled man needed healing, Jesus forgave his sins first. This is the miracle so many people miss, which is what really needs healing and transformation. This miracle I see everyday in my heart and my brother's and sister's hearts and through these blog posts. I want my heart to dwell on the radical POWER that Jesus has on the human heart, which is so unpredictable and rebellious and passionate, and seems impossible for us to control.
Dear Lord, please remind me of your POWER and the way you have transformed my heart and are changing me everyday. Help me to say YES that I am IN this. Help me to have eyes to see you in the ways that you are moving all around me.
One fear I have in blogging and journaling and social networking is that I can say words that I am not bold enough to say in real life, or to be tempted to play the popularity or coolness game. I hope that we can be honest and encouraging to each other, and it is really cool to see that in the posts I have read.
Grace and Peace
I've found that in typing, or writing, something bold I am more apt to share those thoughts and feelings with othes I'm surrounded with! Be encouraged Josiah! God constantly says to me... Okay Andy, you posted that, now go live it! Thanks for sharing your fear, that really brings for a lot of people maybe some of the fears (me included) we all have but are not as quick to share!
ReplyDeleteYour post about Peter fishing reminded me of something my dad always shares when we go out on the boat, "they call it 'Fishing, not catching' for a reason, sometimes you throw your hook out there with the best bait, even the bait that worked like a charm yesterday, and you get skunked!" WE are called to be faithful not successful!- Mother Teresa (paraphrased)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Josiah!
JOSIAH! Happy first blog!
ReplyDelete(It feels like it should be celebrated)
Thank your for your words and thoughts, and thank you for the encouragement they've been to me.
I'm sitting on campus, headphones in, surrounded by a crowd of students and I can't help but be convicted by Jesus' voice asking "Are you in this? Do you love me?... Feed my sheep." Do the words that I read and write on my laptop come from a spirit of timidity or a spirit of POWER? He says again: "Do you love me" and as you say, Jesus follows up this question by painting a picture of what radical death looks like. Radical death that will GLORIFY GOD. Death that invites the Divine to meet earth here in my life, here in this room, here in the lives of the students I am surrounded by!
Thanks, friend!
Beautiful Collision by David Crowder is playing in my mind as I read... Divinity meeting depravity is an incredibly beautiful collision!
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