The Calm and the Storm

Been a while since I filled the content field of the blog, and for those of you who read I am deeply sorry. Holley and I are still in the midst of transition to a new life and work in Orland Park, IL.I don't say that as an excuse, but today it is also a frame for what I'm about to say. Today I didn't really feel like being a mature follower of Jesus. My head ached from changing climates, my body was exhausted from the rounds I've been making lately, and my mind was racing with the many things that need to be done before Holl, B, and I close on our first house at the end of the month (did I forget to mention that?)

Today, I felt like checking out - screaming at other drivers trying to navigate the gale force winds on I-55 south and finding some nice hole to crawl into before anyone noticed. Just me and my copy of "The Memory of Old Jack" with Holley and Bailey at my side.

The point that came ever so quickly to me is this: there is no checking out. My experience today in no way mirrors the oppression or suffering other followers of Jesus go through on a daily basis or have gone through in the course of history, but the reality is that the fairy-tale faith of fluffy Christian bookstores is not truth. Not that it isn't absolute truth, which is a discussion that is as nasty as it is necessary, but the real root of the Greek "alethia" - it is not REALITY.

The reality is that bad days (which is all that today is, not a crisis of faith) are miniature rounding points that bring us to a place of greater maturity and softer lines of thought.

I've got more to post from the Halter & Smay book that I'm reading, "The Tangible Kingdom", but it's in my office 2 hours away and I don't have a photographic memory.