bombay reflections

for a good time i've felt led to embark on several "mini-journeys" in search of answering questions that lay beneath the surface of the hearts of us all. i believe that people, no matter their theology, their race, their gender, their religious beliefs, all have questions that never go voiced.

just the idea that people have questions that they won't ask bugs me. it doesn't bother me because i want to know what question "so and so" has or because i need to know i'm not alone. it bothers me because if you never voice those questions, you'll never search for God through them.

that sounds a bit hazy, i'll see if i can clear up the water a little. if you have a question that you've always been curious about and you might have even studied scripture, read some commentaries, looked up the greek but you've never raised the question to anyone else, i would argue that you are missing out on a critical part of sanctification.

you are missing out on a piece of discipleship.

if you notice in the Gospel accounts, things were done in groups.

there were the 12 who were the Apostles. then there were the 3 who seemed to be a little closer to Christ. it was almost as if Christ took the three men and walked with them a step deeper.

isn't this the way our friendships are? we have a larger number of people who we would call friends but there is that small core group of people who we would say we are closer to, we are more connected; our bond with them is deeply rooted unlike other friendships.

it is with this core group of men and women that you share your lives on a more intimate level.

let's hop back over to the first century briefly before we ask a few questions... as i read the gospel accounts, i see Christ doing daily life with the people who followed Him. These men and women were his good friends.

i can see Him laughing with them at dinner. staying up to the wee hours of the morning telling stories about each other, about their lives before Christ, eating good food, drinking good wine and sharing pieces of themselves with each other.

i can see Christ hugging and crying a young man after losing a loved one. embracing him in his grief with no quick Bible quote but just the comfort of his arms.

i can see Jesus getting fishing tips from Peter, talking about philosophy with John, walking through questions that keep coming up with Judas and much more that isn't recorded by the four books we have today.

do you ever think that the part of life we miss out on the most is in our lack of conversation with each other?

think about it. we get together and go to the movies, to a ballgame, bowling, to play pick up basketball, to go shopping, to go to the park, etc. we do all of these things and there is little to no conversation that goes on. and the conversation that does go on is small talk, much like that on a sunday morning. we are lacking substance. we need substance. our souls, and our minds need to be stretched and challenged. we need spiritual and mental exercise.

to pay my way through school i bartended. you know what i miss about not being a bartender? the conversations. i've never had better conversations anywhere (outside those with my dearest friends). the job was amazing and the people were what i was there for. i had many regulars that even today i can remember where they sat, and what they drank. there was one particular man that comes to mind. his name was john and he was a retired university professor.

he wasn't a very tall man by anyone's perspective, but what he lacked in height, he more than made up for in intelligence. the man was a wealth of knowledge. he would walk in once a week, usually thursdays, and sit down with some sort of reading material. each time he sat he had the same drink, sapphire martini with a twist of lemon, but he always had a different book or magazine than last week.

we would often discuss politics, current events, etc. in one particular discussion i asked him why he was always reading and he said, "when you exercise, you keep your muscles healthy, in good shape, and hopefully growing to be in better shape. your mind is the same way, so if you don't exercise your mind, it will lose strength and become weak. i'm determined to not let my mind go first."

do you ever feel spiritually weaker than you did yesterday if you didn't "exercise" your spirit recently?

there are times when in-depth conversations come easily but most of the time outside of Bible study classes we don't have spiritual conversations. WE NEED THEM TERRIBLY.

if you want to grow, you must start down a path where you can search for the heartbeat of God in hopes to become more like Christ with other people. you must ask the questions that you've always wanted to ask. raise the question even if it seems questionable. how can you ever learn if you never begin to question.

i want to challenge you, if you've read this far, to begin a "mini-journey".

here's is what i'm urging you to do: find two or three (keep things small) other people who desire to go deeper and are willing to invest time in reading, talking, studying and praying individually and together. once you've found those people everyone "put a question in the hat" and pick one to start. this question can be about anything. it could be about the old testament laws, war, peace, salvation, life, love, relationships, anything. take that question and look at what scripture would have to say about said topic, then share your findings. do it over dinner or send out one email with a question and everyone reply. hear or read everyone elses responses thoroughly. not to find something to prove them wrong with, but find something that makes you think. discuss each others answer with an abundant amount of love and encouragement. once you've discussed thoroughly, go to the next question.

the key is to keep searching

keep walking

keep reading

keep praying

keep loving

keep encouraging

keep your spirit and your mind sharp

you don't want your spirit to be the first thing to go.

may you find people around you to journey with more intimately

may your heart be pushed to new depths

may you have more questions than answers