Give Me My Rapture

well...your answers were thoughtful and correct. the only thing i would want to add i cannot add. at least in words...for there are no words that can convey what i wanted to accomplish (in my own life as well as communicating it to you...

we christians need to be filled with wonder and awe and reverence and gratitude and wonder and awe and reverence and gratitude and wonder and awe and reverence and gratitude and... ad infinitum...

it starts with seeing God for Who He is...

He is God. completely other than...not just bigger than us...not just other than us...not just superiour than us or to us...He is God. HE IS GOD. we must ponder...contemplate...think over...mull it about...chew on it...stew on it...review on it...stop worrying about cheesy rhymes and really, really, really...think about it.

that's where it all starts.

then, after we begin to get a glimpse of what appears to be a representation of God (see Ezekiel 1:28 for similar wording)...we'll never truly get a hold (completely) of who and how God is...but we can see flashes...and when mr. ezekiel got this tiny, little, insy-binsy, modicrum of a fleeting view of God, what did he do?

"i fell face down."
"i am a man undone", cried isaiah.
"i fell down as if i were dead" said john the beloved of his experience on patmos.

what a friend we have in Jesus...and i'm glad we do. but, when we ponder our wonderful opportunity of friendship with God in Jesus Christ, without pondering WHO HE IS, we miss out on something.

once, when i was a teenager, a couple of friends went to nyc to see our favorite guitar player, jorma kaukonen...he really is an extraordinary guitar player. quite amazing, really. and, especially at that time (as a budding guitarist) i was taken with him...he was a bit of a hero, in that teenage way. i wanted to be able to play like him (well, without all the practice anyway...). he was jorma! unique (not just in name!).

we got to the venue early...it was a tiny place called "the lone star cafe" and as we walked in, who was there doing a sound check...but jorma...right there...in front of me...all purple hair and tattoos and guitars and...jorma! after he soundchecked (a mere 5 feet from us), i said, "hi jorma" and he put his hand out to shake mine...wow!! then we shook hands. it was a cold fish handshake, limp as overcooked macaroni...like he was a girl or the pope expecting me to kiss his hand.

i was disappointed. almost devastated. jorma has a cold fish handshake! jorma's a sissy. jorma isn't masculine! i was bummed. jorma did not live up to my expectations...altho he did later during the show...he still was an amazing guitar player, lame handshake or not.

so it is with celebrity. they are people. not really different than us, truth be told...whether it's a guitar player or an actor or a politician...they are people who eat, drink, fart and sleep...they get colds and lose thier tempers and put up grand facades all the while.

and it's not that we think of God that way...but, sometimes we act that way. and we take His friendship for granted.

He is God. fill us with wonder, fill us with awe.
He is God. far and away removed from anything ordinary, never mind anything sinful.
He is God.

He ought to be completely seperated from anything ordinary, never mind sinful.
and we are sinful, nevermind ordinary.

but.
but God.
but God condescends.
but God condescends to us.
but God condescends to us, even tho we don't deserve it.
but God condescends to us, even tho we don't deserve it bc we are ordinary.

that is grace. and we should be humbled and awed and full of thanksgiving and praise.

give me my rapture today.