The Moments of Life

As a Christian, it only makes sense that I would try to follow the example of the characteristics displayed by Christ.  And I have.  Admittedly, there are some days that I have been more successful at it than others.  Some years have been better than other years.  Actually, one minute might be better or worse than the next.  Sadly, my emulation of Christ has been more fluid than I would have planned at the beginning of the journey.  But it is what it is, and perhaps that is why I am such a fan of grace and mercy.  It also makes me totally reliant on the imputed righteousness of Christ, and a lover of the book of Romans.

As we are going through this Easter season, and I contemplate on the days leading up to the brutal crucifixion and glorious resurrection of the Savior, one quality of Christ has stood out in my thinking.  It is one that I have been prayerfully trying to copy... one moment successfully, and the next not always as successful.  What has stood out to me is the ability Christ had to live in the moment. 

It occurs to me that most of us spend each moment either reliving the past, or imagining the future.  Christ did not allow that to happen in his life.  He pulled everything there was out of each moment he walked on this planet.  We tend to live in the, "What might-have-been,"and, "What's going to be."  Christ lived in the now.  He didn't dwell on the past.  And, apart from striving to reach the goal of Calvary, he didn't waste a second worrying about the future.  His energy went into into the moment....into the now.

As one reads the gospel, one gets a real sense of the calm, peaceful pace of Christ's life.  He had so much to accomplish during His short stay walking among us, and yet Jesus never seems rushed.  He was continually surrounded by people needing his touch, people needing his teaching and people needing his love, but the Lord ministered to each of them in a pace that seemed anything but frenzied.

That characteristic was evident whether Christ was walking quietly with his disciples explaining to them what was to come, or on a mountain proclaiming the Kingdom of God to thousands.  It was there as he sat by the well with the really messed up Samaritan woman and whispering to her, "I am the Messiah."  Or, as he knelt on the ground, writing in the dirt.  The woman caught in adultery standing before him.  The victorious glare of the Pharisee's as they stared at him, waiting for an answer they could pounce on.  "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."  Moment by moment, a perfectly paced life.

That pace is particularly amazingly evident in the days before his death.  Christ knew what was coming.  The beatings.  The scourging.  The mockery.  The cross.  And the most difficult for him to face....His separation from the Father.  With all of that before him, his focus was still on the moment.  The certain agony ahead did not distract him from the now.  It was, indeed, the perfect example of walking in the peace that surpasses all understanding.  It was a life lived in perfect peace moment by moment.... even when the spikes were being driven into his hands and feet.

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.  (Isaiah 26:3)

I would suggest that Christ lived those words of the Prophet to perfection.  Christ lived each moment in that perfect peace because he trusted his Father for the next one.

So, it's a discipline I'm working on.  Completely trusting God for the coming moment so that I can enjoy the present one to the fullest.  But then, just as importantly, it includes trusting the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice to cover every moment of my past that has fallen short of God's glory, so the weight of guilt doesn't distract from the joy that's available in the present.  I have determined to, as much as is within me, live in the now.  To love the moment.  To not allow the pendulum to swing to the, "What might-have-been" or the anxieties of the, "What's going to be."

Admittedly, it is beautiful in it's simplicity, but more difficult in practice.  But the beautiful reality is that God says, "Trust me with your past.  Trust me with your future.  And, allow me to carry you through the moment."

Friends, it's the enemy's most productive weapon.  He will remind us of past failures, or he will cause us to dread what might be in the future.  He whispers the lie that God's grace isn't sufficient for the past, or that his mercy doesn't guard our future.  It drains joy.  It destroys peace.  And it allows Satan to rob the life God desires for us, one moment at a time.      

The Shattering of Job

"I was at ease, but He shattered me."  Job 16:12

Now, if I were to speak those words, most people who know me, even casually, would say, "Dude deserved it.  If anyone should be in line for a good shattering, it would be old Jim."  Sadly, even I would agree with that judgment.  There have been many occasions in the course of my life when I could have spoken those words, and every time they would have been not only true, but deserved.

But this is Job.  This is the man God himself bragged of, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8)  Now, apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ, there has never been a moment in my life when the Father could have spoken those words of me.  I regret it, but it is true.  It has, however, given me a greater understanding of Christ's words about the woman who anointed his feet with oil, "She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal."  (Luke 7:47 MSG)  Or, in short, he who has been given much forgiveness....loves Christ very much.  To the depths of my being, I know the love that flows from the gratefulness of a heart that has experienced the magnitude of grace and mercy the Father has shown me through the cross.

God holds Job up as an example of an excellent servant, and then gives Satan permission to shatter him.  Understandably, Job is confused and does not understand why his life took such a negative turn.  Modern day readers of Job's story wonder the same thing.  I have heard people try to explain Job's plight with one verse, " For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. (Job 3:25)   The rational goes that since Job feared and dreaded it, the door was opened to Satan, and Job got what he feared.  That is absolute drivel.  One can't explain the actions of God toward a faithful servant by grabbing one verse out of the whole book, and using it to say that Job got what he deserved.  Not only is that explanation contrary to the book itself, it nullifies the great truth of Job's story.

In the latter part of the book, God speaks to Job at length.  It is quite telling that in the entire conversation God never explains to Job the reason He allowed what he allowed in Job's life.  God does go to great lengths, however, to give Job a glimpse of the magnitude of the glory of the Creator as well as the magnitude of the glory of everything God is and everything God does.

That is the main point of the book of Job.  God is God, and will do what he chooses.  Actually, Arthur Pink describes it in his book, "The Sovereignty of God," much better than I can. (Although he is not specifically referring to Job.)  "Since God is God, He does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases: that His great concern is the accomplishment of His own pleasure and the promotion of His own glory." (Page 17)

Friends, God did not create us because he needed someone to love, as nice as that sounds.  God, in the glory of the Trinity, was and is, and always will be completely complete in Himself.  He did not need anyone or anything to add to that completeness.  While God keeps many of plans and purposes to Himself..."The secret things belong to the Lord." Dt. 29:29.... He does tell us in Isaiah 43:7 his purpose in creating us, "...everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”  A few chapters later in Isaiah the scripture drives the shaft of God's glory deep into our minds:  "For my own sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you that I may not cut you off. Behold I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another."  Isaiah 48:9-11

The driving motives in all that God did in creation, and does in history, in the church, and in individual lives, including Job's, is to maintain the honor of His name and to display His glory.  I would suggest that creation itself was the natural outflow or overflow of the glory of God streaming through eternity.  It is not merely his plan, it is an extension of every characteristic that makes God who He is literally exploding into time and creation.  And on the history of that creation he creates a stage on which he displays, and will always display his glory.  

Understand, as God, He can do no less than magnify and glorify that which is perfect.  To do less, would not be possible for a righteous God....a God of truth.  Since He is perfect, it is only natural and understandable that he glorifies His own perfection.

Creation declares His glory.  His love for us demonstrates the glory of the love of the Godhead in the eternity before time.  His forgiveness of us shouts of the glory of His grace and mercy.  Even His judgment and wrath displays the glory of His holiness and righteousness. 

I have, admittedly, found myself questioning the reasoning's and purposes of God, much like Job....although with far less human justification.  But when I take the time to prayerfully consider the glory of who God is, and the glory He displays with His dealings with men....well, like Job, I can only respond in one way:

 "I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."  (Job 42:3)

"Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes."  (Job 42:6)

Contemplating the Dimensions of God

Praise be to the precious God of all creation, who fills every dimension with his glory, and who allowed that glory to slip into the dimension of man through his precious Son, Jesus Christ.

There was a time, decades ago, when I fancied myself a scientist.  I did enjoy the sciences, and had a decent knowledge of certain science related things.  Physics was not one of them.  I struggled through several physics classes in high school and college but never did truly grasp the concepts any better than a baby grasps the purpose of his hand.  It should be noted, although not surprising, that my lack of physics comprehension is closely rivaled by my mathematics comprehension.  Some people can just visualize that stuff.  I can't.

I mention these inadequacies not at an attempt at self deprecation but as a backdrop to my recent preoccupation with the concepts of dimensions beyond our three dimensional reality.  My preoccupation is not with the dimensions themselves, but rather as they may relate to the God I serve.  As mentioned, I am not a physicist, and I am not a theologian, but my mind wanders and here is where it has been wandering as of late.

I have read that people educated in the deeper aspects of physics and mathematics have proven the existence of ten or eleven dimensions.  Actually, as I understand it, some speculate that there may be twenty or more.  Understand, they cannot picture what these dimensions actually are or what they may look like, but they would claim that it is actually mathematically provable that they exist.  As a believer, that would make sense to me for I understand that,  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God..(Dt. 29:29)." and if man can speculate on the possible existence ten or twenty dimensions, God probably exists in hundreds or thousands or, dare I say, in an infinity of dimensions.

Understand, I don't insist on any of these thoughts, nor are any of them provable, but as I consider the puniness of the three dimensional world that is the reality of our three dimensional minds, and contemplate the absolute beyond comprehension magnitude of God's hundreds or thousands or millions of dimensions.....Well, I stand completely in awe of Him.

First, if one were to pick one point....any point....in space, that point would be non dimensional.  No dimensions.  If one would draw a line from that point to another random point, that would be a line.  Since lines can only differ in size by one measurement....length... they are one dimensional.  If I were to take four lines and make a square, the square would be two dimensional since each square can differ from another square by two measurements.  Width and length.  The height would be non existent.  Stay with me now.  If we take several squares and place them perpendicular to each other we have a cube.  Cubes can differ from each other by three measurements....width, length and height.  Three dimensions.  The world we live in.  The world we comprehend.

If that doesn't make sense to you, I have to ask you.  What did you expect?  I'm not, as mentioned, a physicist or mathematician.  The point is our reality exists in the three measurements of width, length and height.  With those those measurements comes the sense of depth.  It's what our minds comprehend.  Our reality is a three dimensional reality.

I'm almost through.  Here's one of the simplest definitions I've found for the fourth dimension of space.  The fourth dimension is all space that one can get to by traveling in a direction perpendicular to three-dimensional space.  Right.  That's just the fourth dimension as it relates to space and not time.  When time is thrown in....well....time warps and does bizarre things that tangle my mind into knots that are hard to undo. 

Here's the point, if there is one.  The jump from the third dimension to the fourth dimension is a quantum one for those of us living in a three dimensional world, viewing life with a three dimensional mind.  It is one fantastically exponential jump.  Imagine the jump from the fourth dimension to the fifth, sixth or seventh.  Totally, in-comprehensively impossible.  Then, attempt to consider the hundreds or thousands or more dimensions in which God exists, moves and manifests his glory.  Impossible, for sure....but totally awesome in it's scope and possibility. 

Back to two dimensions.  If there were a two dimensional world and, yes, I am aware of the book Flatland.  But, if there were people living in a two dimensional world, and I were to pass my wedding ring through their world, the ring would not appear to them as it appears to a three dimensional mind.  In my world, I see a round, circlet, gold band that tells the world of my commitment to my wife.  Our friends in the two dimensional world would view the ring as it passed through their world in a totally different way.  They would see a dot that spreads into two dots that move apart until the ring is half way through.  As the ring passes the rest of the way through the dots would move back together until there was one dot....and then that would disappear as the ring left their two dimensional world.  They would have no idea of what they had seen not to mention the meaning behind it.

If I could communicate with our two dimension inhabitants, perhaps through a note or even a book, I would try to explain that what they had seen was a round, circlet, gold band that tells the world I live in of my commitment to my wife.  Some of the inhabitants might believe me, and realize what they had seen was a wedding band from a three dimensional world that had deep significance to the one who sent it through their two dimensional world.  Others would contend that all they saw was a dot that spread into two dots...then converged back into a dot, and disappeared.

I don't insist upon this, but perhaps all that God is fills those ten or twenty or thousand dimensions beyond our puny little three dimensional reality.  Perhaps all that is spiritual lives and moves according to the design of the Creator in those dimensions beyond ours.  It would mean that despite what our three dimensionally trained minds tells us is real....the real reality exists in those dimensions that are flowing around us. 

Remember when Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the king of Aram in the city of Dothan. (2 Kings 6)  The servant panicked as would any sane person looking at their dire situation through a three dimensional reality.  Elisha prayed that the eyes of the servant would be opened, and they were.  This is what we're told, "Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."  Is it possible that God opened the servant's eyes, not to see just a one time event, but to obtain a snapshot of the symphony that God has orchestrated in the dimensions beyond ours?  Did he momentarily open the eyes blinded by three dimensional reality to see a portion of the Creator's design in his higher dimensions....dimensions that still flow in and through our three dimensional world?  A glimpse for the servant, but a reality seen often by Elisha. 

How about when Peter, James and John walked up a mountain with Jesus as described in Matthew 17.   And He (Jesus) was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  Did God put together a moment for Peter and the others to demonstrate that Christ was his son.....or did he, for a moment, allow them to see the reality Christ continually walked in? 

It's a beautiful and awesome thought to me.  God, eternity, heaven, everything that is good, true and real.....Not a million galaxies away....but among us flowing in, around and through everything we can see with our limited vision.  The only thing not allowing us to see it is a mind that is trained to see and perceive three dimensionally. 

When I read or hear of near death experiences, and the marvelous things that are seen, heard and encountered as the brain ceases to function I do wonder.  I wonder if the vision of the spirit and soul, unencumbered by a three dimensional mind, are beginning to experience the magnitude of the multitude of dimensions that are God.

Theological concepts may not become more clear, but they becomes more understandable as to why they are not as clear as we would like.  Just as I tried to explain my wedding ring to our imaginary two dimensional friends, how does a God who fills every dimension explain the concept of the trinity to a three dimensional mind.  Free will or God's choice.  Multidimensional concepts filtered through a three dimensional brain.    

Again, I don't insist upon it.

But if the Creator were to pass something special through our world.  Say, for example, his Son.  He then gives us a book attempting to describe the event, and the significance to him.  Some will read the book and believe that something special has passed through our dimension.  Others would look at it and say all it they saw was a dot that spread into two dots...then converged back into a dot, and disappeared.

I feel sorry for the people who will not see past the dots.  People who will not see what the dots represent.  Whether it's dimensions or something else, I do know that there are, "Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)  How I long for the day when these eyes are opened to see all of reality....to know as I have been known....and to see all things reconciled under the Lordship of Christ. (Colossians 1:20)

Desolate Places

"...Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter." (Mark 1:45 ESV)

 Ah, the desolate places.  As the prideful and arrogant person that I tend to be, I often find myself in desolate places.  Pride and arrogance tend to separate one from other people.  More importantly, they are characteristics that separate us from God.  It is interesting to me, although not surprising, that when I am find myself in a desolate place I also find Jesus.  Or, I should say, I find new revelations of Jesus.  When we look, we will always find Christ in our desolation. 

Did you notice my pride slipping through again?  In actuality, Jesus finds me in those bleak places.  He is the good shepherd.  He watches His flock closely, and protects them fiercely.  When a rebellious sheep, much like myself, wanders from the safety of the flock, he searches for it....He searches for it, gently picks it up and carries it back to where it belongs. 

Every time my shepherd picks me up and brings me back, I see him in a different light.  I experience his character in a deeper and more full way.  In the desolation of the wilderness I always comprehend the Shepherd in ways I never have before.  Shades of him that were blurred become clear.  It's not that I recommend the desolate places, and I wish I possessed the wisdom and discipline to avoid them, but I do praise the Shepherd for his faithfulness to his own.  In the end, I am nothing more than a stupid sheep trusting in a diligent, loving Shepherd
               
The wilderness wanderings have produced in me a new appreciation for the words, "no one."  It is clear to me that when Jesus Christ says, "no one", he means "no one."

 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:27-28 NASV)

Once I chose, by an act of grace of the Shepherd, to follow him, I became one of those that cannot be snatched out of his hand.  I don't understand it completely, for such comprehension is beyond a rebellious little sheep's capacity.  But the Word of God combined with decades of experience convince me of this truth.  No one can snatch them out of his hand.

I am certain that as, over the years, fellow sheep have looked up to see the Shepherd, once again, carrying me from the barren lands of desolation back to the flock, some have shaken their heads in disgust.  Others, I am sure, have puffed out their woolly little chests in pride that they have remained safely in the fold of the flock.  Many would just stare at the little plot of land beneath their nose, refusing to acknowledge the return of the one who hand wandered from the fold.  There were some that stared in disdain and wondered why the Shepherd wastes his time on such a worthless, straying animal.  I cannot speak for the Shepherd, but if asked, I believe his short answer would be, "Because he's one of mine."  And, while I'm not proud of my times in the desolate places, I am fairly certain that I have a better comprehension of the depth of the words "no one" than much of the rest of the flock.       

Goat Boiling Thoughts

"You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother."  Exodus 23:19

"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."  Exodus 34:26

"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."  Deuteronomy 14:21

Now, that there is a rule I can get behind.  If there ever was a regulation, command or law from God that I can solidly stand on it would be this one.  When God says that we are not to boil a young goat in its mothers milk I can, with a certainty, proclaim to the world that I have never in my life even considered violating this decree.  Admittedly, I have slipped on more than a few rules, and stumbled over a couple of others, but I have never, by golly, boiled a young goat in its mother's milk.  This old boy can say with a clear conscience that I have never done that, never considered doing that and, with a fair amount of confidence, can proclaim that I never will do anything resembling the act.

Those closest to me will tell you that I am not by nature a good rule follower, and I will, most certainly, own that.  Give me a rule, and I will probably break it.  So, understand that I do sympathize with anyone who struggles with the temptation of boiling a young goat in its mother's milk.  I do not look down on those people.  I only feel slightly superior to them, and would never publicly mock or ridicule them for this weakness.

But then, a few weeks ago, I read the command from Exodus 34, and made the mistake of asking myself why God threw that little tidbit in there in the first place.  Right between telling his people to bring the first fruits of their soil into and house of the Lord, and telling them that he is making a covenant with them, God says, "And, by the way, don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk."  I certainly have read that before, and probably passed over it with the thought that it seemed a tad strange.  This time, I did a little research, and here's what I found.  Turns out, the pagans surrounding the people of Israel would actually boil a young goat in its mother's milk.  For real.  They would then take the fluid and sprinkle it on their land in order to bring fertility to the soil.

God is not a random God.  The universe does not spin randomly, our lives are not random events in time flowing from the spinning universe, and God does not guide our lives by randomly throwing words together in his Word.  There is a reason that God mentions the young goat boiling rule three times in the Torah.  There is a reason that in each of the three times it is talked about in the first five books of the bible that it is directly linked to the law of bringing the first fruits of the soil into the house of the Lord.  In the Exodus verses, the young goat boiling ban follows right after the first fruit command.  In the Deuteronomy scripture the order is reversed, but in all three the commands stand side by side.  It is also interesting that in the two Exodus scriptures, the command is also closely tied to the covenant God was entering into with his people.

It occurs to me that God's purpose in commanding the people in Israel not to boil a young goat in its mother's milk is more than cautioning them against picking up the practices of the surrounding pagans.  God does that in a variety of ways throughout the whole old testament.  There must be a reason that this particular practice is strongly tied to the covenant God was making with his people, and bringing the first fruits of the land into the house of the Lord.

I am compulsive by nature.  My compulsion for the past few weeks has been God's purpose in connecting these three thoughts in his Word:

• Bring the first fruits of your crop into the house of the Lord.

• Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

• God is entering into a covenant with a people he has chosen.

As I consider the connection, I can see the Father making a clear distinction between a ritual of appeasement, and an act of celebration and worship.  God is saying to the people of Israel that he has chosen them as the people that he wants to enter into a covenant with.  But, not only has God chosen them as his covenant people, he was also determined to live among them.  His chosen people lived in tents, and so he would live in a tent in the midst of them.  An offering would be taken from the people to build the tent and everything in it....each person gave what God placed on their hearts....and God chose the tribe of Levi to take care of the tent and offer the sacrifices necessary for the God of creation to live with the people he had chosen.  Because of the honor and responsibility of maintaining everything necessary for God to live with his people, the tribe of Levi would not receive a portion of the land God was leading them into.  Since they would have no land, God provided for their sustenance by having the remaining tribes bring the first fruits of their land into the house of the Lord.

So, a short synopsis of these scriptures as I would paraphrase them would read, "God wants a relationship with the people he has chosen.  He wants to live in the midst of the people he is in relationship with.  Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk, but rather bring the first fruits of your crops into the house of the Lord to sustain the tent God will live in and provide for the people who care for the tent.

I can imagine the pagans surrounding Israel going through the senseless ritual of taking a baby goat, boiling it in its mother's milk and sprinkling it on their fields, hoping the gods would be appeased and the crops would come.  It was done out of obligation.  It was done out of a fear of not doing it.  It was done in hopes that the unseen gods would be moved to do something on their behalf.

That is, I believe, the contrast God is making when he ties these scriptures together.  He is telling his people, by way of an example that they are familiar with, not to allow their service to him to become a mere ritual.  He is asking them not to allow their service to become a superstitious act of appeasement for a distant and angry God in the hope that he might move on their behalf.

Rather, their service to God is to be an act of praise, worship and thankfulness for what God has already done.  He has chosen them to be his covenant people.  He has chosen to live among them....to dwell with them.  He has provided them with a land that will produce abundant and plentiful harvests.  And then, as an outflow gratitude for what God has done, the first fruits are brought into the house of the Lord.  There truly is a stark contrast between working to get a god to move on your behalf, and the works that flow from a grateful heart in recognition for what God has already done.

When I consider this scripture in this light, I guess I have boiled a few goats in their mother's milk in my day.  There have been times when my giving has been based more on the fear of what would happen if I neglected to give, rather than an outpouring of gratitude to the God who has chosen me.  My prayer times and study times have, on occasion, been more ritualistic than they have been acts of praise and worship to the Father who has included me in his covenant.  At times, my acts of obedience have been more anxiety based than love based.  And, there have been occasions when my service to God has more resembled dripping milk on dry fields than a celebration of the fact that I am in covenant with the living God, and he has chosen to dwell in me.

So, in the end, when it comes to the heart of the most simple command from my God, I fall short.  I fail.  That is why I am a man who needs to tightly cling to the cross of Christ.  My every breath needs to be bathed in grace and mercy.  And that is why I am so thankful that, even when my Father knew that I would, in essence, be boiling young goats in their mothers milk....he looked on me.  He looked on me....smiled.....and said, "He's one of mine." 
       

And the Word Became Flesh

Rough, calloused hands slowly smoothed the edges of a graying beard as the aged fisherman stared into the distance. Visions of the life he had lived made their way through his mind as he contemplated what needed to be written. Even now, he could feel the rocking of the boat, and the spray from the sea when, as a young man, he threw the nets over the side. Just as all those generations before him, his future and living lay beneath the blue waters of the sea of Galilee. And, with that, the man named John would have been content, for he would have known nothing else.

How vividly he remembered the day he sat in his father's boat going through the tedious motions of repairing weathered nets. A shout from the shore drew his attention from his work. What was it about the man who called that caused the fisherman to lay the torn net in the bow and draw the boat to shore? What was it in the words, "Follow me," that made him leave the only livelihood he had ever known to follow the man with the gentle smile, and compassion filled eyes"

Unsure as to whether he would be able to put into words what it was about this man that had caused him to turn from the sea and his nets, John pondered what to write as he continued to gaze at the horizon. Finally, realizing that there were no adequate words to describe the nature of the man who had called from the shore all those years before, the uneducated man of the sea began to write.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...."

"...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth."

Profoundly deep. Poetically beautiful. Utterly astonishing. All from the hand of the fisherman with no formal education who heard the words, "Follow me," and followed. As profound....and beautiful....and astonishing as John's words are, they still cannot capture the glorious magnitude of the Logos of God taking on the flesh of man. God had walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam, he had pitched a tent with the people of Israel, but now he had taken on the actual form of the most precious of his creation. God had become one of us.

"....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."

People have struggled, trying to wrap human minds around the concept of these words ever since a virgin gave birth to the child who would reconcile the Creator and his creation. The shepherds wondered at the words of the angels announcing the birth of the Messiah. The magi steadfastly followed a star pointing them toward the child, and humbly knelt before him wondering about the meaning of his birth. Herod's wonder became an obsession resulting in the death of every child in Israel who was under the age of two.

"...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." The words penned by John, the fisherman turned disciple, have been a challenge to every person of every generation who has heard the name. Who was that child? What was so special about the man he became?

As one of those people, in a much removed generation, I have been challenged by the wonder of the man who claimed to be God. I know that he always was....that he is....and that he always will be. I certainly don't understand it, but I know it. What I do understand, however, is who this, "Word that became flesh," has become to me and, perhaps more importantly, who he is to me at this moment.

Manna was amazing stuff. For the people of Israel, wandering through a barren wilderness, it was their sustenance. Manna would become to them whatever they needed. When they needed protein, it became protein. When they needed carbohydrates, it became carbohydrates. When they needed vitamins, it became vitamins. God's people, working their way to the promised land, saw this white wafer like substance, which became to them whatever they needed on their journey and said, "Manna," which is basically the Hebrew word for, "What in the world is it."

"...The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," and the world says, "Manna....What in the world is it." Christ would later tell his disciples that he was the true bread that comes down from heaven....that he was the true heavenly manna. And that is exactly who I have found him to be. I consider him...I look at him, and contemplate the awesomeness of the Logos of God walking, breathing and living in a body like mine and I say, "Manna....What in the world is it?" It is certainly more than anything my mind can begin to absorb or even vaguely comprehend.

But then I walk with him, I fellowship with him and I begin to get a taste of the heavenly manna the Father placed in that manger over two thousand years ago. As I wander through the wilderness, making my way toward the promised land, I find that this manna becomes exactly what I need for each step of the journey. When I need peace, it becomes peace. When I need joy, it becomes joy. When I am without hope, it gives me hope. When I lose my direction, it points me toward home. And, with each taste I find an abundance of grace... and mercy...and forgiveness. When I break myself, this manna fixes me. It is everything I need to sustain me on the journey.

Christmas is as profound...and beautiful...and as astonishing as the old fisherman put into words. But it is also as simple as a Creator coming to his creation and saying, "You're broken, and I'm going to fix you." It's what this Word that became flesh does...and he does it perfectly...he fixes broken people.

The Journey

Jacob slowly made his way toward the mountain. He was, with a certainty, a much older man than when the journey began over six decades ago. One could see it in his graying hair, his weakening body and the wrinkles beginning to show on the landscape of his face. Some were wrinkles of laughter, to be sure. Others, wrinkles of worry, as well as wrinkles of anguish and torment. There had been wonderful times sprinkled with times flowing with tears of disillusionment, but still Jacob walked toward the mountain he could not yet see. He walked more languidly than at first, but his goal was determinedly set in his heart.

Indeed, the destination was not the mountain, but what lay beyond the mountain. Jacob was not sure what was beyond the coming cliffs, but he knew that it was the destination the for which the journey was preparing him. Although he had a sense of what was on the other side, his mind could not begin to envision it. He knew that he would see the face of glory, but the shape that face would take was far beyond his comprehension. He trusted that arms of grace and mercy would carry him up the mountain just as they had guided his decades long journey, but the form of the arms could not be imagined. On the other side of the mountain, Jacob knew that he would be bathed in holiness and showered with righteousness, but he had little idea as to what holiness and righteousness truly looked like, or the feeling that would accompany the immersion.

When he crossed the majestic peaks, he knew that he would finally be home, but what being home would mean to him was shrouded in mystery which his mind could not unravel. Throughout his travels, Jacob had found resting places, and several of these places had indeed felt comfortable...he had felt contentment, and certainly had been happy.....but something within him would never allow him to mistake these places for home. Jacob knew with a certainty that waiting in that home was a Father and a Brother he had always known, but had never seen. How he knew, Jacob did not know, but he knew it none-the-less. It was, perhaps, the desire to be at home with the family he had never seen that had compelled him on the journey.

The man, Jacob, understood that he would be called by another name on the other side, and it was for the best, for he had tired of the burden of being Jacob. The name had served him well as he traveled. Jacob had carried it with pride, almost to a fault. But now he longed to hear the sound of the name that would define him in his new home. He also knew the body that had carried him all these miles would be replaced and, with each year, he understood the necessity. The strength that had flowed from him at the start was draining. The eyes were dimming and the legs less stable. The mind, once so focused, seemed cloudy and distant at times. A new body was going to be crucial.

And so Jacob walked, longing for what lay beyond the mountain, yet not looking forward to the climb. Directed by a constant inner drive, step by step, he made his way toward a yet unrealized goal. With more years behind him than ahead, Jacob realized that the colors around him were losing their brilliance, and the faces of fellow sojourners were becoming more blurred as his focus on the destination sharpened.

Jacob walked with memories as his constant companion. Memories of times when his stride had been long and powerful, as well as times when he had stumbled and fallen. He remembered the determination and purpose in the early years of the journey, but he also remembered, with regret, the distractions that had waylaid him and took his attention from the goal. He remembered the pits he had fallen into, and the struggles climbing out.

Thankfully, with the passing of years, even Jacobs regrets and disappointments became a source of joy to him as he walked, for he began to see them for what they really were...part of the journey. And so he walked with confidence, remembering the unseen pull that had become his compass and always pointed him toward the utter brilliance he was convinced lay beyond the mountain. He walked with thankfulness, remembering the magnificent strength that had carried him up the walls of the pits and valleys that had encompassed him. With each year, as he walked he became less aware of the steps, less mindful of his surroundings and more focused on his destination.

And, then he was there. After seeking and longing for it all these decades, the mountain appeared as if from nowhere, the most daunting spectacle he had ever seen. Jacob woke up earlier than normal on that morning, and began to walk. It was similar to any morning of any day of the past sixty years. The scenery was similar. The thoughts and feelings were much the same. Nothing foreboding was on the horizon. Midway through the morning things changed. Jacob felt an unfamiliar strangeness slowly overtake his body. His legs stubbornly refused to support him as he slowly crumpled to the ground. It was time, you see. Jacob had walked the steps demanded by the journey, and as he stared in awe, the massive mountain rose before him.

Jacob felt an array of emotions. Fear and anxiety gently tempered with excitement and a strange peacefulness. The magnitude of the mountain spawned the fear and anxiety, while the thought of what he was convinced awaited him beyond the peaks gave rise to the excitement and peace. Intuitively, from a place deep within, he knew that every step of the journey had merely been preparation for this moment. The memories that surrounded Jacob as he traveled were gone now, for his entire being was focused on the mountain. The blurred images of his fellow sojourners had faded into the back round, and Jacob felt strangely alone at the foot of the mountain. He could not turn to the right or to the left. There was no way of turning back. The mountain was his destiny. What lay beyond was his prize.

Even with his first step up the slope, unseen, yet strangely familiar, arms seemed to embrace him. As the body, which had been his pride, grew annoyingly weak with the climb, the force that had compelled him on the journey....the same force that had carried him out of valleys and dragged him out of pits....grew stronger within him as he made his way up the side. As Jacob's breaths came more slowly the impalpable arms held him more tightly, and the force seemed to lift him from the ground.

As Jacob neared the peak, his arms were useless, his legs seemed not to respond, and yet he was moving toward the ridge. Stubborn muscles in his chest contracted, pulling in much needed air. For the first time during the climb, Jacob looked back. The blurred faces of those closest to him through his journey came clearly into focus, tears streaming down their cheeks. Jacob looked past the faces and saw, with a mixture of joy and regret, the trail he had traveled to the foot of the mountain.

With amazement, Jacob saw the invisible arms that carried him take a visible form. Scarred hands reached back, touching the path, and the rough places became smooth, the valleys became level, mucky pits were filled and the broken road was made whole. In the same movement, the hands touched the faces of those Jacob loved, lingered on each one, and compassionately wiped away every tear.

Knowing the next breath would never come, Jacob smiled and slowly released the one that carried him to the peak. In that instant, Jacob understood the necessity of every step he had taken. The valleys and pits had given him a taste of the grace and mercy that how enveloped him. The beauty of the journey had been a mere glimpse of the never ending glory flowing from every direction in his new surroundings.

In an unfathomable way, Jacob knew that he filled a void in this new place and yet, at the same time, everything in the place filled him. There was, indeed, a moment...although moments no longer seemed to exist...where Jacob felt a little out of place. But that moment was filled with the form of a man bearing the same scarred hands that had touched the trail of his journey. The glory of the place flowed from this man....it flowed through him, and the glory of the place and the man seemed as one.

The face was truly the face of glory. Jacob was drawn immediately to the eyes, and trembled as they pierced areas of Jacob's being that he never knew existed. The trembling lasted for an instant. In the next, he saw a love that he could not comprehend, only experience, radiating from the man's eyes. From those same eyes compassion...and peace....and joy....flowed through Jacob, each of them touching him in a different way.

The man stepped toward Jacob, cupped his face with his scarred hands and, with a gentle smile on his lips, whispered into Jacob's ear. You see, it was his new name. Jacob was no longer Jacob, and he was overwhelmed with peace. Never again would he be defined by what he had been, for the new named told him who he was in his new home. For Jacob, contentment was no longer some elusive, fleeting thing to continually strive after. And, more importantly, life was no longer something he had lived...it was something he was beginning to experience.