And now, a grand interruption.....

So pandemic is now the water we all find ourselves swimming in. My felt need has been to wrestle with the reality and the hugeness of what has been released upon the earth. That it has given my focus on pressing into a deeper intimacy with Jesus a sharp uppercut is putting it mildly.  I have found myself somewhat obsessed in collecting all the facts in a futile effort to get my arms around what defies one getting their arms around. And so I come here to thrash around with words in an effort to exorcise and exercise the effects of living within the opening acts of this Fellini-esque film in which we have all been cast.

I confess to feeling a bit excited at the leveling affect this is having upon culture. Suddenly the 'haves' and the 'have nots' are equally impacted by the submicroscopic critters that tsunami their way across the globe. Selfie sticks are in no way in demand as their is nowhere to go and be seen. The vapid hubris of youth and the cult of celebrity have been dealt a huge dose of an alternative reality. The apparent solidity of a materialistic world is no longer offering coupons. The illusions are being scrubbed. If culture is an Etch-A-Sketch, it finds itself turned over and shaken. Might this just be the start of a refocus for mankind?

Writing that paragraph felt somewhat cathartic but still insufficient. I am observing from no personal,  moral high ground. My position is as a believer in the saving grace of Jesus who did not count equality with God as something to hold tightly. Instead he emptied himself and took on the form of a servant and in the likeness of mankind, he was born in a manger amidst straw and cows and poop. He went on into a life of humility and at the age of 33 he was obedient to the Father's direction which led him to be crucified upon a Roman torture device, the cross. He died as an innocent, living sacrifice which represented a cosmic transaction that made it possible for me to be ransomed from my fallenness. To become a new man in Christ, to join him as an eternal member of his family in his invitation to co-reign with him in his plans for forever.

Well that sounds swell Mr Santiago.... So now what. Well, for me it is time to refocus on what I feel called to....a deeper intimacy of my branch to his Vine. To move ever closer to joining the Triune dance. To give myself over more fully to the surgical, inside-out transformation of my body, soul and spirit into what the Potter has in mind for me. Silence, solitude, prayer and an ongoing posture of listening always for his still, small voice. To trusting and obeying what I hear. To risking radicalness.
To understanding that time being short is no longer a mere concept.

Father, help me be other-focused in this time when self-preservation seems the only worldly thing that makes sense. Open my ears to whatever you have for me as marching orders. Open my eyes to the ways of the kingdom as I navigate the waters of husband, father, grandfather and friend. Protect me from getting lost in the cacophony of the screens and airwaves. Give me your courage when the bus pulls in. Thank you for the invitation into profound humility....help me to dwell there without complaint. Lord, fix my eyes upon you!