Epiphanies of the Moment

Kind of frustrated with the system, as I tend to get on certain days (okay, most days!) I was sitting at home working through it with my mom and sister. I reasoned, "When you reach adulthood, you realize you can now do whatever you want, but you know it won't make you happy. On the other hand, doing the right thing and following all the rules doesn't make you any happier either." It's the old "_____ if you do, and ______ if you don't, Catch-22," I exclaimed in exasperation. Then my eyes fell on the Colfax Yellow Pages, lying on the kitchen table. The front cover boldly proclaimed, "The answer's in the BOOK."

While naturally the Yellow Pages was thinking of their newspaper-print gray and yellow leaves being where one's attention should be drawn, mine went immediately to an old familiar red NIV Bible I keep by my bedside. Most would call me a heretic, labeled simply by the version of Bible I read, but it is the one version that I turn to for comfort and hope. "Maybe the answer is in the Book," I thought, pondering my recent epiphany. My thoughts continued to wander. . .

I think we try to make it too hard, sometimes. We get caught up in the rules, regulations, laws, and traditions of men, attempting to explain Truth through our narrow convoluted thinking and interpretations, and forget entirely about grace, mercy, love and forgiveness. Joy and happiness seem to be on their way out, being replaced by a subtle perverse form of control that seeps into every aspect of life. We're so afraid of being saved by grace that we cling to the phylacteries of the Pharisees for salvation.

I think there's more to life than that, though. That is my constant struggle, because I believe there is more to life than what I am finding and I believe God's plan includes reaching the world in amazing ways. It often feels like we are battling against the tide of a solid mind-set that refuses to be open to miracles in its truest sense. It can be easy to get bogged down in platitudes, cliches, and "tithing the mint and cumin" when the heart issues are ignored. At times it seems as if petty issues become the "le special du jour" while real-life struggles and the harsh reality of sin in this sick world we live in, hover just beneath the surface.

There has to be something more. . .

If a person can leave Weimar knowing who they are and with their relationship to God still intact—they will have won one of the hardest battles of their lives.