It is quite possible that I am currently dreaming. And
it is certainly possible that I am fully awake. I wonder some times
about the bubble I live in. If I just pushed hard enough with those
invisible hands could I pop what must be a fragile frontier? Probably
not...and that is probably a good thing. What is beyond that bubble?
Terrifying realities or the confirmation of all the things I have come
to believe?
I've been asked before why I'm a Christian. People always seem to want to talk about the scientific/materialistic reasons for believing or not believing in Jesus. We seem to want some kind of hard evidence that would stand up in a court of law as though God were some kind of object bound by scientific laws. I can never really give people good answers when they come at Jesus from that angle. I know a lot of those answers, but I never found them compelling myself when I wasn't a believer. Some people get disappointed when I don't get passionate about debating the reality of Jesus. Quite frankly I find it a boring debate. Faith, good old simple faith, just doesn't cut it for many in our modern/post-modern/going somewhere/ culture, and the moment it makes an appearance it is quickly dismissed because you can't evaluate it in any concrete way. But what else can I truly offer?
I believe because I met Jesus. That encounter, that meeting, for me was as real and true as though I had just met my friend Wes. Since then I've only gotten to know Jesus more deeply. All my faith, my belief, is a result of that first meeting and the subsequent experience of getting to know Jesus. Some of my experiences have been downright weird and spooky, but they have convinced me further that this person Jesus who was crucified some 2000 years ago is indeed alive, and is who he claimed to be. Personal experience is not enough to convince others, I know, for it can not be evaluated in concrete terms any more than faith can be, but its what I've got and for me it is more than enough.
It is quite possible that I am currently dreaming. And it is certainly possible that I am fully awake. I wonder some times about the bubble I live in. If I just pushed hard enough with those invisible hands could I pop what must be a fragile frontier?
Eric Janzen is an active member of Friends Langley Vineyard. The wild goose (pictured above) is an old Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit. Drawn by Terry Van Roon
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