* Inspiration… Something comes at you and leaves in a flurry, but sticks with you anyway and you can do nothing but contemplate it until you find a release. I also feel the need to employ some sort of ‘Works Cited’ bit right here in order to avoid copyright infringement penalties (because that doesn’t sound like a lot of fun) from U2 or the Bible writing folks. This post leans heavily on “Walk On: the Spiritual Journey of U2” by Steve Stockman, “On the Move” by Bono, Isaiah 61, Psalm 139, and Matthew 28.*
So here’s my two cents lately… I’ve been reading a lot about Bono and U2 and what he and the band stand for and believe in. This has been coupled with the prevailing theme from training camp about the empowerment we have from God. Yes, I read his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast recently but my disclaimer is that this is not a post about how great or off-track or whatnot Bono is. At the very beginning of the book “On the Move” there is a picture of Bono with these words… “This book is dedicated to the little boy on page 17. He changed my life. I can’t remember his name.”
I almost got sick to my stomach, it hit me so hard. I immediately closed the book and I couldn’t pick it up for more than three days. Why did that one sentence rock me so violently? “I can’t remember his name.” Why did the fact that one of the busiest and most famous men on the planet forget the name of a little kid turn me so upside down? Honestly, I don’t know. I saw myself in Bono in the moment I read that. I thought about the fact that when I was in Belize I was so blinded by the rainforest that I couldn’t see the trees. I couldn’t remember the names of 25 young saplings who desired to become oaks of righteousness; the very thing I was pretending to be. It’s the most arrogant and selfish thing I can think of in my life. Those days have haunted me because I totally missed the point of being there. I was striving in my own fruitless power and missing out on the good work that God was involved in. But still, seeing myself in one of the the world’s foremost advocates for social justice shouldn’t cause me that much inner turmoil.
Ok, did I see Bono in myself? Sure. I saw a regular guy who thought that he was someone special, and this regular guy had been put in a place of introspection and realized that he, in and of himself, really wasn’t all that cool after all. Add humbling and sobering to arrogant and selfish. Now it’s really starting to pile up; this idea that we might not exactly have it all together and that, even though we might be where God wants us, if we aren’t involved in what He’s doing there, we’ere working against Him.
I believe the real crux of this revelation is that Bono and I both, in our own places, saw so little of God in us. That leveled us. I totally put us into a place of being ashamed of thinking that we knew what was going on. I don’t know Bono, so I ‘d better stop speaking for him. But I know the Father. And… (here’s the point) He knows me and you. He has given us all authority under heaven to speak in His name. This blog isn’t about me or Bono; it’s about a God who not only knows your name, but loves you. It’s about the opportunity to share with others the fact that the Creator of everything cares more about you than the birds and the flowers. Sure, He has numbered and named the stars but He is not intimate with them. Legions upon legions of angels and other heavenly hosts have been worshipping Him since before the creation of time but… would He sacrifice His only son for them? No. But He did for us. YOU are the one He knit together in your mother’s womb and He knows you completely. He did not touch and breathe life into the animals. He made no mountains or rivers after His image and in His own likeness. YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made! If you could count the thoughts the Almighty thinks for you, they would outnumber the grains of sand. God knows your name.
