I guess every great blog has to start somewhere, so here we go! I spent a while writing about why I am here, my story, and a little bit about who I am. It’s a good place to start; check it out under the “About Me” tab. So, life here in Murfreesboro has been great lately, but definitely hectic! Trying to prepare everything for World Race has been a HUGE task: from writing and designing my support letters, to addressing and stuffing envelopes, to looking at gear, to starting this blog, to submitting forms and documents, to buying international health insurance, I have had my hands full the last two weeks. On top of WR stuff, I am still working full time and trying to spend as much time with my friends fishing, playing putt-putt, watching UFC fights, eating, talking, etc. that I can until I leave. On top of that, I am dealing with ending my lease at my apartment, and arranging move-out details, and paying bills.
I say all this, not to ramble and not to complain, but to point out that in all of my preparations I find myself leaving God out of the picture. It’s ironic that the catalyst behind this huge life-change is Christ, yet in the midst of it all, I forget about Him. So today, I am taking some time to just stop. To clear my mind of everything; I am shutting up, and letting God talk to me. I need a spiritual recharging right about now, and I am realizing that this is probably really good preparation for the next eleven months. For it is entirely possible to do great works, to genuinely love, and to spread joy and happiness in the absence of Christ; yet how dead those works, love and joy are without Him. As I start to wonder about what my trip will look like, God has put this really intentional reminder in my life right now, that above all else, no matter how right and pure the motives, anything done without Him at the steering wheel is dead.
My friend Ryan is an AWESOME guy. God crossed our paths at work, and it was through studying the Bible with him that God spoke to me to GO on this journey. Ryan is a fairly new Christian; he didn’t grow up in a church, and because of this, he offers a wonderful outlook on faith that I sometimes wish I had myself. He is able to learn the Bible for the first time as an adult. By no means is there anything detrimental about learning Bible stories and the text from a child, but being able to be first introduced to Christ and the Old and New Testament with the maturity and comprehension of a 23 year old rather than a 5, 10, or 13 year old, is something incredible to witness. The thing I love about Ryan is his mission: read your Bible. He asks me all the time, “You reading your Bible?” He asks EVERYONE about it! I love that!
If you grew up in church then chances are the phrases “pray and read your Bible” ring more or less cliche and overused in your head. I always get a mental image of my 6 year old class and the Sunday School teacher illustrating Bible stories on a felt-board with a white Jesus (blue sash included of course) and little white baby Moses in his basket floating down the river. Please note: I am not mocking these stories or this way of teaching children; I understand completely the reasons why this is used and why it is effective in America. But this is one of those times when being submersed in church my whole life, I hear the command, “read your bible” and I play it off in the back of my mind as just another phrase muttered daily.
But then I think about what the Bible is to Ryan, and to millions of people who have recently picked up the book for the first time. This is not a felt-board religious book…this is a BOOK OF ANSWERS! As where I read a verse (or more times than none, finish it in my head as someone else reads it) and think ‘yeah yeah, I know this is nothing new, been struggling with that all my life, I’m working on it,’ Ryan will read it and get pumped, because God has just explained what He is all about. Ryan has just learned a principle of God. He has just been introduced to a coping mechanism unknown to him before, because he has tried life for 20 years without any knowledge of God, and has realized that this new way is THE WAY.
I think you get my point…
I bring that up, to continue Ryan’s mission–have you read your Bible this week? I know I sure haven’t made time to this week. I am in dire need to open it up and learn from God. Please understand that it’s not that you cannot grasp big ideas and life-change from the Bible if you have grown up in church, for I have a whole new outlook on “read your Bible.” It has similarly turned into my answer book, and is becoming more relevant to my life every time I open it. But, it takes a little bit of backtracking and overwriting. There are many aspects of my childhood faith that I have had to realize I completely disagree with now, and I have had to accept that, I had to forget about it, and I, most importantly, had to overwrite it with what is now my core values and beliefs.
White Jesus with his beard, white robe and blue sash has now become a very dark Middle-Eastern Jewish rabbi. “Be sure to pray everyday” has become “keep the lines of communication open with your Dad.” “Read your Bible” has become “dive into a sea of answers and examples to make your life a lot easier.”
Forever Grateful,
Jordan
