What if you saw God?

So the other morning at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting at a high school here in town an interesting question was asked. We're working our way through Crazy Love, and this was a question asked at the end of the first chapter:

What would you do if you saw God walking down the hall of your school?

The answers were what you would expect:

Run up and give him a Hug

Bow down and worship him

All real demonstrative of what you would expect if you physically encountered God, right? Yeah.

But that Got me thinking... is that really how we would respond if God were walking down our hallways?

I mean, first off how would you know it was God walking down the hall? I guess you might expect him to look, I don't know, "god-like." You know, big flowing robe filling the hall behind him, powerful stride, light eminating from his being, angels surrounding him in a real regal way. But I got thinking about that and that's never how God has showed up. Well, I mean, in the prophetic books of the Bible where you see images of God's throneroom something like that is the picture

described. But on earth? The last time God showed up on earth he was a normal guy hanging out with normal guys. There was nothing to physically set him apart from anyone else who was living at the time. Most of the people he interacted with didn't think he was God until later on. He had out and out opponents who wanted to kill him. That doesn't sound like the kind of guy who, if he walked through your halls at school would inspire you to fall down and worship or run up and hug.

But that got me thinking further... Is God not walking down the halls of our schools? of our work place? of our grocery store? of our [insert place here]?

I propose: Yes, God is very much walking the halls, he is still physically on Earth.

It's a matter of Incarnation. (now, I need to be careful here cause if I say this wrong you may take me for a heretic, so please have some grace in reading this).

The Incarnation of God did not end with the Ascension, when Jesus physically left earth and went to heaven. God is still incarnate, in the flesh, in us. Am I saying that we are God? No. But we are the incarnation of God. For "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)" We are the Body of Christ, in a very real and literal sense! What a responsibility we carry! When people look at us they should see God! We are the incarnation of God where we live and work.

From another angle:

How you treat the people around you is how you would treat God if you saw him walking down the hall.

Think of it this way, Jesus said "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" and "whatever you did not do to one of the least of these, you did not do to me." (Matt. 25:40, 45) What this is saying is, if you ignore the people you walk past in the hall, you're ignoring God. If you belittle others, you belittle God.

So I'll ask again, What do you do when you see God walking down the halls of your school? Do you run up and give him a hug? Do you encourage and uplift him? Or do you ignore him and walk away?

Grace and Peace

Changes

It's been over a year since my last post. And a crazy year it has been. But that is not what this post is about. I just need to write and not really for any particular reason. I know that "goes against" what I wrote about in the post stating the pupose of this blog, but I feel it is still relevant.

I have posited that I am a slave to Christ. However, I have not always lived as such. Oh, from time beyond (my) remembrance I have tried to live a Christian life, and although I have from time to time contemplated turning my back on my faith, I have always had faith and always tried to live faithfully to that faith I have. I have always believed in Christ, his atoning death and empowering resurrection, and in the Holy Spirit's active transforming of my present life into something better than what it could have been. I accepted the salvific act of Christ for my life at the age of four and have never abandoned that salvation.

What I am saying here is I have been not always been faithful to be a slave of Christ. I have often tried to be Christ's teammate or side-kick. I have lived how I thought Christ would want me to. I have not always sought His explicit direction for me. I believe with my whole being that He has called me into ministry, and that specifically with teenagers and children. Because

of this I assumed that a Master of Arts degree in Christian Education was the logical next step after I earned a bachelor's in Youth Ministry. However, that assumption has been strongly challenged in the last couple days. I'm not sure if I'm to give up on the MACE completely, or just take a break. All I know is that I need to take some time off from my schooling. I need to take a breather, sit back, and seek God's guidance.

As I said, I have tried to be Jesus' side-kick. It is the role of the side-kick to follow the tutelage of their mentor. They are trained by them, disciplined by them, and taught how to be a hero.

However, there has never been a side-kick in comic book history that has not disobeyed their mentor, often spurred on by the thought that they know better about their own good or their mentor's own good. Two results come of the disobeying of the mentor. The first is that the side-kick ends up saving their mentor, proving that the mentor taught them well. The second is that the side-kick gets their hind-parts royally handed to them, needing to be rescued by their mentor. Showing that they have not learned well, and bringing a scolding from their mentor. The thing with the side-kick is he eventually breaks off on his own, assuming a different secret identity, and possibly taking on his own sidekick. This is a great model of peer-to-peer mentoring. This would be a great system to incorporate into the church more often and more fully. What I would have given to be a youth pastor's side-kick back when I was a teen. I would have learned so much and been so much more prepared to be a youth pastor now. Nonetheless, this is not the relationship I want with Christ.

I want to be the slave of Christ. I want my very life to depend on him. He has freed me from slavery that leads to death and given me true life, how can I not submit myself to slavery to Him, a slavery which leads to life. To seek him about the choices I make, to give Him the final say in the choice I try to make about my life. To seek Him first and place Him first in everything. As I said, I am taking time off. I will be seeking Christ's direction for my next step. Spending a lot of time in prayer and devotion. Focusing on my role as youth pastor at the church I serve, and my role as husband to my wife. Areas that I have been slacking at because I jumped to quickly into the next step of education.

So I place my future fully and only in the hands of my Creator, my Savior, my Master, my God. May He lead me where He wants me, may I do what He wants me to do.

Grace and Peace