http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scream.jpg |
He traveled light, the young man making his way from
Tennessee to a town here in South Carolina where someone was keeping his “things.”
A T-shirt, shorts, and pair of sandals suggested a life devoid of roots.
“I’ve been in and out of jail since I was fifteen,” he said.
I twisted to get a better view of him in the backseat, and tried not to look
too obvious as I scanned his body for any gun shaped bulges. “I want to get my
life together, start over.”
My husband asked a few questions about family, friends, or
ties that connected him to this place and then cut to the chase: “Do you know
the Lord?”
He assured us he did, but his affirmation was riddled with
fragmented sentences that started and ended mid-thought as another piece of an
idea floated by. Talk of “it’s a relationship” was mixed with “ya gotta do
good,” and “it’s crazy.” A mind short-circuited by drugs wrestled with things
he’d heard about being a Christian.
My husband carefully explained God’s plan of salvation and
Jesus’ power to give him the new life he sought. We rode in silence for a few
minutes and then the hitchhiker asked, “How do you know? Like just because
someone says something it’s true? “
The wariness in his question caught me. It bespoke a young
life lived in the company of lies—lies he’d spoken, lies others said to him. He
hardly dare believe this was truth, that Jesus was who he said he was, that
there really was hope for a new life.
“How do you know?”
“Ask him,” Bob said.
It just didn’t seem the time for expounding proofs of Jesus’
deity. The simplest of responses struck at the heart of the matter—he had a
mind full of ideas about how Christianity is relationship and yet didn’t have
one.
“Ask him to show you.”
The young hitchhiker’s question made me think about the pat
answers we give, the Christianese we speak. I often hear, “Christianity is
about relationship, not religion,” and I wonder what a close relationship with
Jesus means to people in a busy post-Christian culture. In a Southern culture
where Christianity still has a face on every street corner. In a Northern
culture where it doesn’t. What does having a relationship with Jesus look like
to me?
Perhaps it is seeing what it looks like without Jesus that my answer is best expressed. The one thought
that could pitch me over the abyss is the one the psalmist expresses in Psalm
27:13: “I would have despaired unless I believed I would see the goodness of
the Lord in the land of the living.”
Life without the hope I have in the presence of the Living God?
Absolute despair.
Do I look forward to seeing the Lord in heaven? Certainly.
But I also look to seeing him now, daily, in this land of the living. I expect my prayer to be heard by a living
God. I expect to hear his voice
guiding me as I read his word, as l lift my prayer. I look for signs of his
interventions and intersections with people and places. And I trust that when I
step out on the farthest point of a limb, He is there.
My relationship with Jesus not only means I spend time at
his feet with my concerns and requests, and worship, but that I look for Him , seek
to approach my every day with the realization Hagar came to: He is the Living
One Who Sees Me
And to hear Him call me as He did Mary at the empty tomb:“Marcia.”
I 'm careful about words and dreams and visions and things unseen, but relationship to me is a a street that runs both ways,and my God travels the highway from heaven to earth. What about you? I’d love to hear about what having a relationship with Jesus looks like to you.
Well written Marcia and gets directly to your point! I believe we Christians struggle with this dilemma every day of our lives in trying to witness to others in need, like your hitchhiker! Thanks you for your views, insights, and experiences in this 'life-saving-ministry!'
ReplyDeleteA vital part of my relationship with Christ is communication, just as in any true relationship. I try not to limit my sharing/listening time to a particular hour, but instead commune with Him throughout the day. "What do You think, Lord?" "How should I handle this?" -- and like you, I try to watch and listen for His answers. I wish I could say I always do these things, but I often fail. Again, this is where communication comes in -- when I fail, I know I can ask a merciful Father for forgiveness, receive it, and move forward. Oh, the beauty of relationships.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this story, Marcia. So powerful!