Intimacy Is My Theme Song

Cambodia was tough, let’s be honest.  We started the month with scummy pond water, little to no guidance for what we were supposed to be doing, ridiculously hot weather and incredible amounts of mosquitoes.  I was blessed with an unearthly joy and the entire month God was unraveling what joy was, where it came from, how to use it, why we have it, etc. etc. and it has been an incredible ride.  

Here are some truths that joy that hit me hard:

For those of you who know me personally, you know that I LOVE planning things.  I love researching things, learning about them and planning them out; I think my ideal job would be a travelling travel agent.  I also love cooking, food, wine, coffee, music, reading, travelling, poetry, hiking, the outdoors in general and tons more.  These are things that bring me tremendous joy and I love sharing them with people (and of course planning them!).

Last month I was just feeling really convicted as to WHY I have those passions.  I mean, doesn’t a “good Christian” only have one passion?  Jesus.  I didn’t realize I was believing lies until the end of the month and had an amazing quiet time with God.  He was basically just downloading to me that He gave me these joys for a REASON.  Yes, my first and foremost passion should be God and He should be the root of all these things he’s made me passionate about, but that doesn’t make these things bad.  I have these passions because other people do as well.  These are ways to relate to people.  Fellowship: a not only great part of following Christ, but a crucial one.  These are ways to bless people, to show them more about who He is and to show me more of who He is.  

Ever since this realization, my passions have been re-lit with a vengeance, to be cliche.  Not just for personal or selfish reasons, but to bring glory to God.  I have been able to plan a trip to the National Park for our two teams we are with in Malaysia and spend a wonderful day in nature to relax and enjoy our one day off a week.  I re-started my backpacking blog, but made it a little differently.  You can now find it at www.thechristianbackpacker.com.  I want to use it to share my experiences abroad and share good advice, to highlight the spiritual climate of each country we go to, show people what these countries really need, where they are struggling and not just to show them great hot spots and restaurants.  I also want to highlight the persecutions of Christians in different countries and what to do about it, something that isn’t well known.  I also am feeling called to do evangelical backpacking trips when I get home.  Not just taking fellow hikers down the “Roman Road”, but to just love people I meet on the trails, to show them the love of Christ and tell them the truth and bring light to dark places.  Also, to own a hostel when I “grow up”.  A way to befriend people from all over the world and to, hopefully, make an impact on their lives and to show them who Christ is to me.  

I really think this nation (America, not Malaysia, specifically) is blinded to the truth of Christ.  There is this idea of what religion is and it isn’t what Jesus sees.  The word Christian was only mentioned three times in the Bible and it was actually used to mock the early church.  ‘Christian’ means ‘Little Christ’, meaning people who were little wannabe Jesus’. The early church liked the name, it made sense, so they picked it up.  Christ never meant for rules and regulations, standard, traditional “you have to or else”‘s.  Don’t get me wrong either, people that go to traditional style church, Baptist churches too, are great!  Whatever helps you worship the Lord and learn more about who He is is fantastic!  I’m just talking about the stagnant style of religion that isn’t intimate and isn’t life changing.

I think this is the quintessential word that describes what I have learned about Christ on the race so far.  A relationship with Christ is supposed to be intimate, passionate, powerful, real.  He is called the bridegroom after all, think about how intimate a relationship is with a spouse!  Christ is life changing.  Christ is beautiful, poetic.  These are things that I think are lost in the idea of Christianity.  I’ve seen it a lot in my travels.  Other religions, like Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. are seen as beautiful, kind and poetic, but Christianity is seen as the equivalent of hypocritical cardboard.   I guess I’m being dramatic, but I’ve been fairly passionate about this point lately and something I really would like to change in America’s views on my walk with Christ.  

So!  That’s about it.  I feel like I could go on and on about everything I have been learning the past few months.  Things I’ve learned about Christ, myself, others, relationships, cultures, America, travelling and intestinal issues, but I’ll just stop here.  Hope you can ring some good juice from all of these words.  God bless and I’ll write another blog soon (hopefully tonight) about where we are, who we are working with and more about the end of Cambodia.  

I’ll leave you with this.  Something I recently loved, something I saw as a poetic view of the history of the Bible, albeit not a literal translation.