Back in the USA
My final weeks and days in Ecuador were wonderful. My entire life I have not been in one place, let alone, one country for more than 4 years at a time. A few years ago I decided that when the time comes to pick-up and move again I want to truly miss the people I am leaving behind. Yesterday I left a community of people, students, teachers, mentors, pastors, workers, Christians and non, that I will deeply miss. The Lord knows when I will return to them.
The past weekend I took advantage of my “freedom” and went for a visit to Shell. Saturday morning I rented and rode a bike from Banos (Banyos) to Shell. The ride took about 4 hours compared to when I did it in 6th grade when it took us all day long. Despite a pretty bad sunburn and a very tired body I was very refreshed to get back to my ‘home’ town where I had spent so many years of my life. God blessed me with the time, money and place to just reflect and prepare for the upcoming life events. Two books went with me. Real Christianity by William Wilberforce and Friend Raising by Betty Bernett. I could be wrong with the second author’s exact name. Both of the books were excellent! I highly recommend the first to anyone that is battling mediocre and culturally Christianity. The second helped prepare my mind and heart for returning to the US to raise support.
The thing that has been resting deep in me these past weeks has been the weight of God. As I was flying today I wrote down this thought. We do not have the words to express the vastness or weight of God’s glory so rather than seeking a better word for His greatness, let us seek to know the glory of God. What I mean is this: when we say that God is a good God, that is a true statement. But, to describe God’s goodness compared to our goodness, there is an eternal difference. How else should we say it then? More words? God is a good, great, awesome, magnificent, magestic, glorious, wonderful, generous, lovely, beautiful, God. Even these words in our finite minds cannot ‘hold’ the weight of their truth in the context of God. How do we KNOW God to BE who or what He is? This , I cannot answer except to point us to the Son of that God, Jesus Christ. It is through him that we see the glory of God in the face of Christ.
It is true that nothing compares to knowing Christ. As Paul describes his desire in Philippians, he considers all things to be lost and rubbish compared to knowing Christ. What things are in our way of knowing Christ. I know that I constantly am fighting to see Him through the trash. Media plays such a huge role in this. Good movies or bad, if they distract from knowing Christ, it is rubbish. As a rule, if it is distracting you from knowing and following Christ, where true life is found, life that the Christian claims, get rid of it. Let us throw off every hindrance that keeps us from running the race.
Spirit of God, move in and through us, teach us the value of Christ in the face of the wor
lds business and vanities. In the light of His glory let all things be considered lost. We embrace that every loss for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God is made up in Christ Jesus. Lord, take from us the distractions, grant us focus, clarity and discipline to see you as you are and feel your weight. Then, let us respond to you in true worship. Be glorified, O God.
-Amen
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