I wrote this blog in Nepal…better late then never. I also have a few coming that are from Rwanda and some from my month here in Kenya to follow. Bear with me…Internet is scarce and I have an iPad.
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I realized that I want to fly…
I long for it.
I start to lift off the ground every time I stand next to the roaring ocean; I can feel it calling to me when the sun sets behind blackened hills, dimmed to amplify the painted sky; I catch glimpses of it in my own memories of childhood adventures; I hear tales of it in movies and books. All these close encounters incite the longing.
Ive realized I want to be one of the infamous "lost boys" from the movie Hook, living absolutely free and child-like in a world full of adventure where play and hope mix together outside the realm of modern day begrudging submission called "life". Living amidst a world at war with a real enemy who wants your downfall, yet with the hope and assurance of final victory wond by a returning hero. A world where death is a reality, but fear of it is overwhelmed by love and a longing for fun and adventure. Where all your needs are supplied by "imagining" them into reality, destroying any foothold of worry in the heart. A world where the ocean breeze rocks you silently to sleep, along with the distant calls of seagulls and crashing waves singing the world to sleep. No rules, no worries, no fear, and a pure, child-like heart, untainted and undefined by the small cares of this world, is your guide.
To live this life is to fly.
I guess that's why they call it Never, Never Land. I only catch small glimpses of this magical life of freedom and flight in memories, movies, and stories that transcend reality. It seems this life wouldn't dare step down and grant its fruits to those inside this anchored prison…would it?
Still…I can't control the longing.
This thought that this kind of life is the only life to live. All I want to do is run to the edge of a cliff and jump in an effort to find out if this life is even possible. But this life has an enemy…
Fear.
What will happen to me? What will it look like? Will it hurt? Will I fall?
Questions with just one root. I find myself chained by it. Reality as I know it is chained from its transcendence into this "lost world" by fear itself. It is the greatest enemy to the fullness of life. It is the greatest enemy to who I was truly meant to be. But there is still hope…
Love
I believe there was a book written to us from this "lost world" I long to be in. It understands and incites the longing within my heart, and it also holds the key to its fullness. In this book it is written…
Perfect love casts out fear.
There is a hero, and his longing is to give me what I long for…life. And he is jealous for me. His love is powerful and effective to provide release from all these fears that chain me down because he owns it all and is constantly and fully involved in all things. All things. The totally Sovereign King, returning to take back the broken hearts that have been stolen. The one who stands above all authorities in heaven and on earth, the one who authored the book of life, the one who sustains every breath I take, the one from whom everything comes to pass, LOVES me! Is FOR me! Came so that I might have life to the fullest! His love is extravagant! His love is steadfast and committed! His love will take on death to ensure that I have life. He gave it all that I might have all.
So…
fear is a lie…Love is reality.
The truth is I was born for the "lost world"…born to fly. It burns in my heart because it was placed there. My chains come from the lies that fear creates because I don't fully understand the truth of the love that sets me free! Love casts out fear, truth casts out lies, freedom casts out slavery. I wanna know more love, I wanna know more truth, I wanna know more freedom…I want to know Jesus more and more and more and more! I want to live. I want to fly.
I think at any given moment we are all standing on our own cliffs, pondering the jump. As we slowly feel compelled to edge forward our foot begins to slip on the loose rocks and we begin to feel the deception of fear. Our greatest enemy begins again with the same old arguments and the same old lies that contain us: "How is it possible to fly when you dont have wings?" Still, the Lord, from both behind and in front of us whispers in a still small voice…
"You've had wings all along…trust me."
And he smiles.
"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" — John 10:10
