My Window

It's 4:45 AM Central Time. For all of you back on the east coast thats 5:45. I'm up eating breakfast with my man A.Lee. We decided the other day that we could basically be married because we are together so much and don't want to try and kill each other. (You can follow his blog at http://conqueror-thru-christ.blogspot.com/). We both have pretty much the same thing going on in front of us, his is a little big more nutritious than mine. We both have 3 eggs scrambled with some spinach. He has a lot more veggies and some ketchup, I have cheese in mine. We both have 1/2 a cup of steaming oatmeal in front of us, he has flaxseed and fresh blueberries, my blueberries are little ice bricks because they are frozen.  It's quiet, really quiet. The thunder that we fell asleep to the night before that was really dogs doing shuttle runs above us has died down now.

It's dark outside, but the blinds are open. We have our other roommate to thank for that. He doesn't really sleep, I'm pretty sure of it. He just sort of naps. He wakes up before the sun is even thinking about coming around again. I wish I was as disciplined as he is. He loves getting up and sipping his coffee and watching the news in the morning, and he likes to open the blinds to let a little bit of the world into 3B.

As I'm pounding my breakfast before going to work, I'm thinking. I'm looking out the window and I'm thinking about something. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Its something Jesus is showing me. He is slowly pulling back he curtain in front of my eyes, revealing another unique attribute of Himself to me on His time, at His own pace.

He is showing me how versatile he is. He is showing me just how unique and unpredictable He can be. He has been this way for my entire life, but only now is He allowing me to see it. I grew up going to a church where everyone was white. We always sang the same songs. We always recited the same words. We always stood up, and then sat down, and then stood up again. But I didn't get it then. I didn't get much of anything pertaining to Jesus then. I didn't want to. I didn't take it in for myself. I thought it was my parents thing. I thought it wasn't for me. Thats not they way that I experienced Jesus. I had to get into a new position. I had too look through a different lens. It took a much different presentation of the gospel for me to see it clearly and be able to apply it to my own life. Things could have turned out a lot different in my life. There were a lot of things that could have gone a lot worse for me. I don't really know why they didn't, other than that wasn't Jesus' will for the way my life would play out.

The thing is, as I'm looking out this window, thats how I see the world in this moment. I see it through my own eyes, from my own perspective, from where I'm located.  I can only see a fraction of the world right now. I can only see a couple of parked cars underneath the street lights. There is so much that I can't see from where I am. There are so many amazing things about the world that I have no idea about because of my own perspective. The fraction of the world that I am exposed to right now isn't even worth measuring.

How we view Jesus is the same way. Our perception of Jesus is limited to our experience with him in our own lives. It's like how I used to think that Jesus spoke English because that I speak English and that is the language that I understand and am able to read God's word in. It's like how I used to think that if it wasn't a hymn that was sung in church on Sunday, it wasn't a Christian song. Gahh He is so much bigger than that.

Open your eyes to really see the gospel. See it in a different light. See it for what it is, the Good News, for all the World. The story of how Jesus came to save every toungue, every tribe, and every nation. That Revelation 5 stuff. Don't limit Jesus. You're cheating yourself. Get away from what is comfortable and experience Christ for yourself, not because it's just the way you've always done it.  Develop an understanding that our God is versatile. He isn't in any one particular style of worship, genre of music, or any other 'box' that you could think to put Him in. He is bigger than that. Way bigger. He is in everything. He created everything. Thats one of the things I love about Him. He looks so different depending on your perspective. You could travel to opposite ends of the world and He is just as present and alive in either place, the only thing that might change is the extent to which we are aware of Him.  

Get to know Jesus. Let Him show you who He really is. Don't put any boundaries or limits on Him. Don't just take it from somebody else.