How I met God and, Later, Bethel

I met God and later Bethel in similar ways, almost against my will. If that sounds strange, please bear with me.

Suppose you hear about this amazing family, the Joneses. You keep your eyes and ears open, hoping to meet them. Eventually you realize you have friends in common. Over time you notice the things they tell you about the Joneses are not so good. Joe Jones feels up young women, Mary Jones is a cougar on the prowl, the kids vary from just weird to downright mean. You lose interest in the Jones family; you've already had way too many people like that in your life (one is way too many, right?)

A year or so later you realize your friends Smiths are the Jones' cousins, and Jim and Bertie Weems are Joe's God-parents, and they paint a different picture. You realize the neighbors had their own issues, which caused them to project things onto the Joneses. Maybe they aren't so bad, even if they aren't what you originally hoped (you are, after all, still feeling cautious. Once burned twice shy!) After a while, though, you realize the Joneses still sound a bit sketchy. Joe might be stealing office supplies. Mary is always hanging out with the teenagers next door, even though there's no rumors of anything really bad. The kids seem awfully doped, like maybe they're on dope.

Somehow you end up at a party with the Jones. And they're just really nice people. When they hug you it feels good-- and totally safe. Right off the bat, Joe seems to get who you are. Mary talks about the things that matter to you. Their kids and yours teach each other new games you want to join in. A week later when they hear you all have the flu, they come to your house with chicken soup and crackers. They do your laundry. Mary cleans the toilet while Jim does the huge pile of dishes. A month later one of your kids mentions your sister and her kids having to move to a womens' shelter and the Joneses send clothes, books, toys, and a check. You realize the Smiths and Weems, though closer than those first neighbors, also didn't quite get who the Joneses really are. Their own problems distorted their view.

Who are the Joneses? Good people. The best. Instant family. They love you, they care for you, they're there for you.

And that's pretty much how I met God. And later Bethel.

Don't judge a book by the books around it. Don't judge God (or other people) by the people who claim to know them. Get to know them yourself. You won't be sorry.

God Is Enough... But Not In The Way You Think

Fellow blogger and all round cool sister Alise Wright recently wrote that God is not enough (do not bother to reply to that unless you read her blog). It was in reply to something on her Facebook wall that said, "If God is all you have, you have all you need."

This was my reply.

God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone (note that God said this even though, technically, Adam was not alone-- Adam had God there!), so he gave Adam and Eve the gift of each other, then gave them more family and friends and community, growing over time. I would contend that if you have God, you have family and friends and community. That's what I see in the Bible, and what I see all around me. Those who try to live without family and community have serious problems.

If, indeed, God alone is all you have then he will be and provide all you need. But how many of us end up like Jonah or John in the book of Revelation? Precious few, thankfully.

I suspect the provider of the quote above was trying to encourage people (or themselves) in the latter situation, but honestly, if we have a computer and internet access, we probably have no clue what it is like to have nothing but God.

I've known people who went through times they had no one but God, and he became enough, but he brought them to a place with others in their lives. Because we were never meant to be alone.

One of the last things Jesus did on the cross was to provide family for two people he loved dearly-- Mary and John. Every time his followers turned around he was loving on people, and doing things that caused relationship... with their Father first, but never just with their Father.

Don't try to make it on your own. Love people. Let people love on you. Does it open the door to hurt? Yeah, it can. But in the words of Alfred. Lord Tennyson, "tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." But if you really, really love people, you don't lose. They might, but you won't. I think I Corinthians 13 covers that one pretty well. (I'll try to address that soon.)