GlocalNet

We Christians make a strong claim that what makes our faith different is that we can have a personal and intimate relationship with God through the God-Man Jesus Christ.  I believe that is true, but I’ve noticed we sure do a lot of things that depersonalize him. 

Set prayers.  Ever heard someone pray from the gut over lunch or some other meal?  I don’t mean to imply that the prayer needs to be long, it doesn’t, just genuine.  Whether it’s in a worship service, a meal, whatever and wherever - is prayer a ceremony, a rite, or is it a conversation with the living God?  Obviously a conversation with the living God - so we don’t need to quote or mimic words - we need to talk to him with him standing before us from our heart.

How we refer to him - the Gospel.  Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on “The Gospel” and what it is and its implications.  Gospel is a really good word - it simply means good news.  The Gospel is the Good news about Jesus.  So . . . why don’t we just talk about Jesus?  That’s like my kids calling me Mr. Roberts - no, to them I’m their dad.  To my brothers and sisters I’m “Bobby Gene” to my friends I’m Bob.  To this day I don’t like being called Dr., Rev., Pastor, call me Bob if you know me.  I don’t minimize respect, but I value people who know me for who I am and not my position or something I’ve done.  I like books with the titles of Jesus far more than “the Gospel” - it tells me something about the person’s personal view and relationship with Jesus Gospel. 

Daily life - we sometimes live as if he isn’t there.  Remember the WWJD bracelets?  “What would Jesus do?”  Theologians and pastors had a hay day with that one explaining what all was wrong with it.  I on the other hand absolutely loved it.  It made Jesus present in people’s daily lives.  It made them stop and think - What does Jesus want me doing? How does he want me to handle this?  Jesus can’t be segmented to a worship service, a theology book, or even your daily worship time.  Jesus must be present in every moment that you find yourself in.  I’ve discovered when I’m not thinking deeply about him, and something comes up, I can sure make some wrong decisions and, dare I say, sin! 

Been thinking about this a lot lately - I want him to be alive and full in every dimension of my daily life.  I get on a plane in about 5 hours to head to Hanoi - I’m so ready.  I’m going to do my best to disengage from everything here.  I’ll be trekking hopefully some in the mountains.  I’ll be jogging around Lake Hoan Kiem.  I’ll be drinking coffee at Highland Coffee Shop.  I’ll be visiting all the art studios.  I’ll be walking down the streets slowly.  I’ll be hanging out with many of my friends.  And, as on past trips, I’ll be writing - but this is my first joint project with another author and I can’t wait - more about that later . . . .