Yet Another Post Today

Yes, I know this is my third post today. It's been awhile. :) Anyway, I published this dream on a Daniel's blogspot, and I just want to share it with anyone who crosses paths with me here.

I was standing in a field by myself, arms stretched to the sky on which my attention was fixed. The sky was the kind of deep dark blue that you see in the summer when even the darkness itself isn't really black. In the sky were several stars, twinkling in time with the praise in my heart. I was overwhelmed by honor for the Most High God. I lowered my eyes to see the tall grass sweeping around my legs, which were covered in the white robe I was wearing. Before I looked back to the sky I noticed other people in the grassy field, each worshiper evenly spaced from the others. I looked back to the sky, content to be at home among other God-fearers. One of the stars caught my attention with a brighter glimmer than the rest. It seemed to be brighter with each passing moment. Was it really getting closer? Was it really a star? It didn't take me long to see that this star was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, descending to earth. His brightness was contained in Himself and did not light up the field. Nevertheless, He was bright. He, too, stood in the field in white robe, the wind brushing the grass against His legs. He was one of us. Then He moved toward the first person in the field. His gaze met the worshiper's gaze, and Jesus's arms opened wide. He approached the worshiper, who responded with a welcoming embrace. As the two locked together the worshiper became very bright as Jesus took the worshiper into Himself. The same thing happened to the next two worshipers. Hardly controlling my elation, I realized that Jesus had returned to bring us all to Heaven to dwell eternally with Him. He continued through the field, welcome each new sister and brother home. For a moment I felt distant, thinking, "I want to go, too. Take me!!" Without a word Jesus stopped and stared at me. His face was not beautiful, not remarkable, not ugly. Like the rest of Him, He was just one of us...except He was peace. One look from Him calmed my spirit as He said, "You're going, too." My eyes and arms shot skyward in exuberant worship. Then I felt it. He was approaching me this time. He looked right into my eyes, right into my soul, and I cried. He cried too, smiling slightly. I stretched out my arms to anticipate His embrace. It became brighter and brighter as He came closer and closer. Our bodies touched, and He wrapped His arms around me. I was taken in, and all I could see what brightness. Just peaceful brightness. I woke up feeling calm completion.

Feeling Good

I was sitting in a room on Saturday night among an ecclectic group of people that reflected the Mosaic taste of the host and hostess. In one conversation an anonymous (to you, not me) friend piped up, "You haven't blogged in awhile." That really made me feel good. I don't have many publishable thoughts, but to think that a friend checked up on what I had to say felt nice. I write a public thanks because the friend deserves it. I hold the friend in anonymity because the humility he's displayed since I've known him means he might not want to be placed on a pedastal by me...even in a semi-private blog.

Doing It My Way

I am relatively compassionate, particularly when it comes to social injustice. Issues of sexism and racism run prevalently around our world, as does injustice to the poor. Issues about the poor probably get me the most. I've always been the type of person who tried to do something to help the poor, whether that meant giving away close, donating money, lending out belongings, volunteering, you know. I become outraged when I hear about other countries being used for cheap labor (i.e. sweat shops). That's why I was intrigued by a recent idea in global economy. There are some economists/politicians reputed to stand behind a global wage system. The heart behind this would allow Taiwanese and Mexicans to make $15/hour in a factory just like Americans do. At first, this sounded really good. Then it hit me. What would happen to our world if this happened? Where would that money come from? Wouldn't inflation go through the roof? On the other hand, how awfully these people are treated! Why should we expect them to be paid less? Questions like these flooded my head when something else hit me. While some social issues surrounding the poor are very real concerns, some issues don't really reflect compassion as much as they reflect our Western affluence and ignorance. Most third-world countries are living in the agricultural age and uphold a standard of living that requires more food than money (hence the worldwide effort to supply food to Sri Lanka et al). What would they do with $15/hour in some of those countries? We sit comfortably in our homes here in the West, looking east and saying, "I'd never stand for such punitive wages as those poor helpless people earn. They need more money." Sure, we need to end mistreatment, but do we really have to make them like us? We think the main mistreatment is the low wage that we wouldn't like. We're interpreting someone else's worldview through our affluence and comfort, constantly trying to do the compassion thing our way. How compassionate is one culture whose compassion is based on its own standards of comfort? Next thing you know we'll be shipping computers and microwave popcorn to east Africa and south Asia for relief. It's what we'd want.

Love, part 2

This blog isn't another sappy "I love my wife" blog. (Let it be understood, however, that she is the best for me that I could ever imagine.) This blog has much more to do with other people. I have been overwhelmed with love for people today in inexplainable ways. I'm not talking about romantic love, obviously. I'm talking about a deeply abiding love for people that results in care and compassion. I'm talking about perfect love. Am I perfect? NO!!! (Since most of my readers know me well, then you know that by now.) I am growing into perfect love, a truth being made obvious to me today. Thank the Lord, since this is the first time I've had a glimpse of this in months. It feels good to allow the Lord to change my heart for loving people.

Another kind of deep person

There's another type of deep person who is very different than the deep people from the other day. There are occasionally those times when you see someone whose depth shines through their eyes, directly from their soul. This morning was one of those times. We worshiped the Lord together, all of us strongly sensing the Holy Spirit. While the pastors leading us in worship spoke and sang, something shone through their eyes that revealed that they deeply knew the truth of what they were saying. They were two deep people whose depth goes beyond anything any of us will know for now. There's something peaceful about people like that. I pray the Lord and I develop that depth of relationship.

Deep Thoughts

You know, I used to think about deep people. They always seemed to have more together than anyone else. Then I started being grouped in the deep category. I never felt I had it all together. I never felt I understood. In fact, many of my deep thoughts came (and still come) out of questions that have no answers, circular thought patterns. Maybe deep people aren't all they're cracked up to be. Maybe deep people are just confused people with enough self-control not to be labeled with some psychological or emotional disorder.

Love

Have you ever been in love? I have. And I am. I can remember wandering aimlessly in and out of "love" until I found real love. The funny thing is that I see it in places I never thought I would. My wife leaves a water bottle filled beside the microwave because I prefer room temperature water. She wakes up at 7:00 a.m. while she's still on vacation from school just to make sure I wake up on time for work. She still holds my hand if we're in public just to remind me she's still thinking about me. She really believes good things about me and helps me to believe them too. For my friends Brent and Amy who were just engaged recently (though not to each other), look out because love is going to slap you in the face in a wonderful way...when you least expect it. Pretty soon love will look at you across the dinner table after a long day and reassure you that the next 74 years of your life are still going to be good ones. If you're not married, though, take Solomon's advice: don't awaken love prematurely. Forcing love won't be real love at all. I can't imagine where I would be if my life hadn't changed four years ago. I wouldn't know what it feels like to come home every day to the treasure we all hope to find.