The Wind Ran Out of Breath

Mark 4:35-41 (The Message)

Late that day [Jesus] said to [the disciples], “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”

From my journal, December 7, 2000

I'm trying hard to imagine what that was like: fearing for your life because of a big storm and the next minute, at the command of your friend, the storm stops and you're safe.

Befuddlement.

Astonishment bordering on disbelief.

You'd try to be happy about it, but it was all just so  -  so  -  so STRANGE that all you can do is drop your jaw and gape.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...we've done a pretty good job over the years of making Jesus less and less astonishing (see a previous post about that thought HERE). To counteract that, try reading the Gospels as if you were one of the participants.

The Problem with Watchman Nee

I'm almost done with my re-reading of Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life and I've got an issue I don't think I can solve.

There's so much really good stuff in this book, and it really does take a few pages to lead up to Nee's strong conclusions and statements...it's impossible to do his thoughts justice in the limited space of a blog post.

So rather than attempt to fully support any overarching theological pronouncement, allow me to sprinkle some salt here in hopes that it will create a thirst for reading the whole thing.

*  Just as no man could ever commit suicide by crucifixion, for it were a physical impossibility to do so, so also, in spiritual terms, God does not require us to crucify ourselves. We were crucified when Christ was crucified, for God put us there in Him. That we have died in Christ is not merely a doctrinal position, it is an eternal and indisputable fact.

*  There is an old world and a new world, and between the two there is a tomb. God has already crucified me, but I must consent to be consigned to the tomb. My baptism confirms God's sentence, passed upon me in the Cross of His Son. It affirms that I am cut off from the old world and belong now to the new. So baptism is no small thing.

*  [God's] finger will touch, point by point, everything that is not of Him, and will say: "This must go." Are you willing? It is foolish to resist God, and always wise to submit to Him.

*  Man's thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins, but God's thought is always of the glory man will miss.

*  Because the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, I have received forgiveness of sins; because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, I have received new life; because the Lord Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of the Father, I have received the outpoured Spirit. All is because of Him; nothing is because of me.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...I was thirsty for a rebirth of my appreciation for what Jesus has done for me and what He is doing through me. This book is a large glass of cold water.

Running On Empty?

While raking the leaves in my backyard a week and a half ago, I was listening to a Pandora station that I've titled "Three Dog Night Radio". It's full of music from the Seventies...but that's okay, because so am I.

Jackson Browne's song, Running on Empty, came on. It's always been an enjoyable listen, but with the earbuds in, I could understand the lyric better than ever before.

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields

In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-oh-one

I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on

Running on, running on empty

Running on, running blind

Running on, running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive

Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive

In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own

I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on

Running on, running on empty

Running on, running blind

Running on, running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Everyone I know, everywhere I go

People need some reason to believe

I don't know about anyone but me

If it takes all night, that'll be all right

If I can get you to smile before I leave

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels

Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through

Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on, running on empty

Running on, running blind

Running on, running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Honey you really tempt me

You know the way you look so kind

I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind

You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find

Running into the sun but I'm running behind

https://youtu.be/ZqDUXxgVpEA

Truth is...In sixty-nine I was turning twelve and called neither the road nor much of anything else my own. Teenage angst was a couple years away and mid-life despair was unimaginable. But I consider these words now and feel empathy and compassion for those who don't know how they ended up on the road they're on...those who "don't even know what [they're] hoping to find" and constantly feel like they're running behind. I understand and ache for those who "look around for the friends that [they] used to turn to to pull [them] through; looking into their eyes [and] see them running, too."

If you find yourself at that point of your journey, I invite you to click on the "Hope" label and see what this blog has had to say about all that.

That's My King!

Voting booths vanish. Ballots are blotted out. Opinion polls and expert analyses are absolutely inconsequential...compared to a certain Galilean carpenter.

I wish I could describe Him to you (like Dr. S. M. Lockridge does)...

Truth is...no matter who wins today's election, Jesus is still my King.

Imagine No Religion

I know, I know...everybody thinks John Lennon's song, Imagine, is so beautiful and peaceful. It's kind of become an anthem for inclusiveness and acceptance.

But have you ever paid attention to the lyric?

You've heard about Coffee With Jesus in this space before (HERE and HERE). Well, the folks at Radio Free Babylon took the time to notice Lennon's words and have them coming out of the appropriate character's mouth...followed by a fitting response from Jesus.

Then Satan just keeps pushing his point...

...until Jesus points out the irony in the whole thing.

Truth is...religion probably DOESN'T do all that much for world peace and love and brotherhood. But then, religion is only mankind's pursuit of God. Christianity, however, is the story of God's pursuit of mankind. A world full of Jesus followers whose allegiance is untarnished by man-made boundaries and anti-Biblical traditions would be a world worth imagining indeed.