Nothing quite frustrates me more than the following scenario. I engage in some sort of dialogue or communication with another individual, and the conversation leads towards an opportunity (if I'm being real to myself) for me to express the truth that I have obtained by being a follower of Christ. In other words... I make it known by some word or action that I am indeed a .... gulp .... Christian.
I gulp not at the fact that I have unashamedley embarked upon the journey, and embraced the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. I gulp, because the average American who THINKS they have heard the gospel before, immediately categorizes me as a safe, boring, nice, meek & mild, "do-gooder" who is probably going to try to get them "saved." Especially the ones who knew me in my "B.C." days. They think I have traded a fast-paced, white-knuckled, live-for-the-moment, adventure through life while hitting every bar possible... for the slow-paced, leisurely, tame, live-for-heaven (only)....religion. UGGHH! That was not the exchange I bargained for when I traded my life for His.
Where is this coming from you might ask? From a dream ...
Last night I dreamt that I was going over a waterfall. It was terrifying and rejuvinating all at the same time. As I awoke, I thought .... "I have just seen a picture of what it is like to follow Jesus!" Let me explain a bit further if you are interested.
It is to the shame of the church that presenting the opportunity to follow Jesus resembles anything at all a quaint little paddle-boat ride on a calm, distilled, dammed-up lake surrounded by a gated-community of "believers." Although riding a paddle-boat can be a nice, relaxing and even fun thing to do some Sunday afternoon... a lifetime of putting around on the lake would hardly fulfill a soul's innate hunger and thirst for a real adventure in this life. But... I've discovered something different in my experience of following Christ. Trust me... if I hadn't I would NOT have devoted my WHOLE LIFE to this thing called "Christianity." I might have picked up some dammed religion to ease my conscience, but I wouldn't have let it alter my life much. Instead of dammed up religion where all is stale and stagnant, I have discovered "The Way" where Jesus is with me as I navigate an unsure river called life in an unpredictable world He created. Here are just a few things I have discovered on my journey down this river so far.
First of all... prayer is anything but safe. You encounter GOD through prayer! Ponder that for a while, and I think you will get my point. I can think of nothing more terrifying than encountering God. Not only that, but He oftentimes will give you what you ask for (and this can be scary because we oftentimes don't REALLY even know what we are asking for).
Many of the bends and turns on this river do move slowly and gracefully. These times are meant to enjoy. Enjoy life. Enjoy His creation. Enjoy others.
Let's live each day,
On God's good earth.
In the wonder of,
Each new day's birth.
Let the sun shine hot,
Upon your face.
Be fully alive,
in God's good grace! (borrowed lyrics from Eric Stark)
But the calm waters WILL be interrupted by a quickened pace and the emergence of bumps in the river road called rapids. The rapids will soon become white-capped and if you just stay on the journey long enough .... you will come to the waterfall's edge. I think the waterfall's edge is the only place on the river through life where we become fully alive. It is where we finally can admit that we are in reality completely helpless. We need someone greater than ourselves to intervene on our behalf.
The FALL can be a terrifying experience because you don't know if you are going to be crushed by the final judgement of the rocks below, or if the River of Grace will catch you in such a way that you don't even dash your foot against the stone. And so "Reading my Bible" comes out of the realm of the religiously lame, and into the realm of "Oh God... get this word into my heart so that when I tumble over the falls that could so easily destroy me, I can rest assured that the living water of God's good grace will catch me and propel me on down the journey towards my Jeremiah 29:11 destiny!" See... it's an adventure.
And here is the best part of the adventure. Along the way, you will discover that there are people all around you who have rejected dammed religion. And they, like the rest of us, are in no way capable of surviving the fall on their own when they encounter their's. So all around you, there are people reaching and grasping for tree-branches along the shore in an attempt to avoid the impending doom ahead. God, who is love, compels us by His love to extend "The Branch," which is one of my favorite Messianic titles in the Bible for Jesus of Nazareth. This just might be the most exciting part of the adventurous life with Christ.
But the problem with dammed religion is that there is no sense of adventure at all. You are either at a standstill, or you are going in circles at best. If the flood waters rise.... just open the dam gates and pretend everything is alright. There is no concern for the people out there who are hanging onto the edge for dear life ... grasping for anything and everything. On and on I could go contrasting the two pictures of this thing known as Christianity, but I think you get my point. So this is to the church... ENOUGH OF THIS DAMMED RELIGION!!! Let's break down the barriers and let God's river of grace flow to the world like He wills!
dam (n) - a barrier to obstruct the flow of water
Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.
3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.
