So I stood out on these rocks and I turned on my iPod. I'm pretty sure I put it on "Adventures in Solitude," by the New Pornographers. And I just looked out at the water, crashing in front of me. The Great Lakes (or at least Lake Superior) look kind of like an ocean, but also very much not like an ocean. I lit up my cigarette, and I just...I tried not to talk, just listen. To not think anything (Stay Puft Marshmallow Man) but just invite God to do some talking, which is extremely hard for me. I'm not even sure I accomplished this...but I think I did learn SOMETHING -- perhaps despite all my best efforts not to.
I saw this smaller rock, probably about 8 or 10 feet across, with a high point in the middle. I noticed that the water wasn't really hitting the middle, even though it was getting very very close. So, I waited for the waves to stop crashing for a second, and stepped out to the center of this rock.
Wow.
These waves battered this rock. I can't even describe it, but on all sides of me: front, right, left, even behind me to some extent, water was crashing against the rock and spraying upward several feet into the air. And yet, I wasn't getting wet.
I have never seen anything like it.
I want to shoot a scene like that some day. Some scene in some movie where the main character stands on a rock like that. God, it's probably been done before, but it would be such a beautiful scene.
Anyway, I just stood there, smoking my cigarette, listening...being in awe. I swear it was the longest cigarette I've ever smoked. It just seemed to last forever.
And then the water came. All of a sudden, the water cam rushing up past what I believed to be the boundaries.
So I quickly retreated to safer ground, to the larger rock, where no water was rushing in, where I could stand back and safely SEE where all the water was crashing, but I was no longer in the middle of it.
I was afraid to get my nice, pretty shoes wet. I was afraid to get my brand new jeans wet. I was content to watch the waves crash without experiencing it. And so I finished my cigarette and I walked away.
And, immediately, I felt bad for my cowardice.
They're only shoes! I can take them off! They're only pants! I can roll them up! But it's cold outside, and the water is probably colder. My feet might get cold.
So I put out my cigarette and I walked away.
And now, over and hour later, it occurs to me. Perhaps this is why it's more difficult for a rich person to get into Heaven than a camel to get through the eye of a needle. Us rich people have "more to lose." We're too concerned with all our stuff that we've accumulated over the years to really EXPERIENCE God anymore -- THAT is a little too dangerous. We're perfectly happy to view it from a safe distance. We even pretend that this means we're experiencing it.
When I was a kid, I loved Rip Roaring Rapids at Carrowinds. And I thought the sign they posted at the front was hilarious. "You WILL get wet, you MAY get soaked." If you're out on the small rock, you WILL get wet. It WILL be dangerous.
If you're not risking your personal safety, if you're not in danger of going to jail, if you're not the object of ridicule (and I don't mean imaginary ridicule, and I DON'T mean the ridicule of intellectuals and "sinners", I mean the ridicule of Pharisees.) then You. Are. Not. On. The. Small. Rock.
Comfort the Disturbed.
Disturb the Comfortable.
That's what God does. That's what Jesus did in his time here. That's what the prophets did.
And gosh...I could expound on this concept for hours...who are the comfortable? Who are the disturbed? What the best way to comfort? What's the best way to disturb?
But the bottom line is...the first lesson, step one -- YOU are the comfortable.
Don't look at anybody around you. Don't imagine somebody a little more comfortable than you are. You are the comfortable. Now, if you've read this far, you've probably been out on that smaller rock before -- at one point or another. Maybe you retreated because you didn't want to get your pretty clothes wet, or maybe you went barefoot and eventually...you got cold.
Whatever, you've been there before. You've risked it all. You've experienced. So why are you standing there watching now? Why aren't you RISKING YOUR LIFE? Why aren't you selling all your possessions and giving the money to the poor. Jesus LITERALLY asked the rich man to do that. He wasn't making some metaphor about not letting your possessions own you. He was literally giving instructions. St. Augustine did that. Converted to Christianity at 33. Sold every single possession and gave every penny of the money to the poor. He became a bishop. He was sainted after his death, and even given the extremely high honor of being named one of the "Doctors of the Church." He is also credited with, influencing Christianity so heavily that 1,600 years later, we still interpret the Bible the way HE interpreted it.
Do you live in a two story house? How nice is your car? How big is your TV? Do you own a video game system? How much did your jeans cost? And you think you're not comfortable? Why do you still have those things when people in other parts of the world are starving to death.
Starving.
Dying because they don't have enough food.
Everybody think they're the exception to the rule, huh? I thought I was exempt because I was a filmmaker, and I was going to change the world in a bigger way...after all, what's better...going and feeding some people, or using the power of film to convince a hundred people to go feed some people for me. But let me rephrase that. What's better...saving people's lives or making a movie? On judgment day, do you think God would say to me "Boy, Austin, that was a great movie you made..."?
You are the comfortable. I am the comfortable. And we think that the answer is to go tell people about this small rock we've found maybe 8 or 10 feet across...where the water just crashes all around. We send home a postcard, or more likely, we take a picture from our sweet, comfortable view and we post it on twitter or facebook -- (that's a metaphor for telling people about experiencing God, by the way).
And then we get mad because they won't go out onto the smaller rock! They take a look and say, "hmmm; neat," and then they walk away.
Duh! Why would they go out on the smaller rock? You're not there. I'm not there. Isn't it interesting how new Christians often have more impact that more "mature" Christians?
The answer isn't to drag some poor sap kicking and screaming to the big rock so they can SEE the small rock. The answer is to go stand on the effing small rock!
Just go! Take off your shoes, or don't. Who care? Just go!
And it's dangerous. Oh, yeah, yeah. You may very well die. Like, dead...or hospitalized. You may very well put your family in danger. You may very well lose EVERYTHING. But you will not lose God. And you will not HAVE him until you're willing to lose absolutely everything.
(And don't talk about how you're WILLING to lose everything...I'm calling your bluff)
No comments:
Post a Comment