Of course He isn't safe, but He is good.

Is it at all possible that 90% of what Jesus said was what he actually, literally meant, and not just a figure of speech or an analogy? Because if it is, then I have got quite a bit of learnin’ to do. 

Since last week, my mind has been on warp speed thought process. Actually, let me take that back, since I was born my mind has been on warp speed, I just kicked it up to Star Trek style mind powers. I reference this only because 

1.That is obviously logical and could really happen and 

2.I have only seen three Sci-Fy movies and none of them were Star Trek so I actually have no idea what they could do with their minds...I just like to think warp speed was a cool specialty of theirs. 

(back to the point...)

Is it possible that all my life I have spent apologizing for my God I have inadvertently told Him I do not really know Him? 

Is it, in fact, quite possible, that we have watered down, weakened and not spoken the real truth of what Jesus said, did, and was? That we have allowed things, excused things and all around poorly represented the sometimes scary-hide-under-my-covers truth of what God has asked of us? 

Is it at all possible that we may have missed it? That when Jesus said few would be in the Kingdom, He wasn’t kidding? That when He said some will call Him Lord and He will send them away, and He isn’t kidding? 

I am re-reading the book of John and I am fascinated, yet again (maybe even to the point of nerd-dom) by the life Jesus lived, in three short years. Three years. 

So, each time I venture through His recorded life, I find, over and over, that there is something hidden there. Something my little eyes didn’t have the capacity to take in the first or second time around. And most of the time I feel a bit overwhelmed by the task He left us. I often feel like maybe He misspoke, perhaps He was not thinking of people like you and me when He asked us to carry out His story of redemption. Mostly because, let’s face it, there are days I feel far from redeemed, and even more days I certainly don’t live like I am. 

If God is at work making me “ME” while completing the missing pieces and redeeming all the sin, am I wasting my time on things that don’t matter? Or does it all matter? 

More often than not, if I am real, I realize I want Jesus to be safe. Maybe that is why all of this is so hard to digest. I don’t want to really have to surrender control to everything, just what is easy. I don’t want to examine the way I live for fear of finding it empty and fleeting, for fear of seeing exactly what I do not want to see, that I have not spent my time here well. I don’t want Jesus to rock my boat, so I ignore some things, or maybe try to change what they mean. I try to justify my anger at the American Church, or my wanting to hoard money and collect clothes. I enjoy entering conversations where I won’t be challenged and avoid those that will send my mind into the aforementioned warp speed. But in these rare moments, where I honestly have (though you may not see it) a rare sense of clarity, I am reminded of the beaver’s quote from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: 

"Safe?" said Mr Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

He is not safe. He wasn’t while He dwelled here. He wasn’t with the Israelites, He wasn’t with Jonah or Noah, or Esther. He wasn’t with His disciples, with the rich or the poor. And He will not be with me. But, He is good. 

And suddenly, I see the point, I see the story unfolding. I see where His heart truly is. 

So I guess, my point of this poorly written, terribly thought out, and even more terribly executed post is, what do you see of Jesus in the Gospel? What do you see when you think about Heaven? What do you feel change, move, tremble or grow in your insides when you read about the man called Jesus?