blue like jazz

i've finally finished reading that lovely book by Donald Miller. after getting used to the whole "Christian jargon" that most authors use, "Blue like Jazz" was visually refreshing and spiritually exciting. not surprising, considering how the author seems to gripe about the same cliches in Christianity that i struggle with as well. i've not had so many epiphanies reading a book since i slowly digested Philip Yancey's "The Jesus I Never Knew". it appears that i like books that challenge the way i think, the way most people conventionally think.

what i'm beginning to realise is that Jesus is one heck of a RADICAL! i mean, yah, Sunday school pictures show Him with long flowy hair, tending to sheep and sepaking to children. Then they zip to the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and voila! The world is saved! perhaps it's time for me to discard those cliched notions in my head and reread the Gospels. Jesus kept the laws, yes, but not through legalism. not a boring lists of "do's and don't", like the religious leaders were doing, but through a pretty audacious claim: "do as i do!". now that is cool. it's even cooler because He actually meant it. for real. and it actually leads somewhere other than destruction.

then, i also want to know Jesus. like a friend. like someone i've just had a phone call conversation with last night. that kinda thing. i realised that it's been a long time since i've actually talked seriously to Him without expecting His response or anticipating His replies with the 'politically correct answer' as i think them to be. i've lost that sense of wonder, that mysticism that is inherent to faith. i don't know why 'mystic' is such a taboo word in Christian circles. i really think God is mystical. otherwise He'd been rational, explainable, ordinary and downright boring.

NO! God is out of this world, indescribable! if my God could be defined in totally rational, scientific terms, i wouldn't want to call Him God, because there'd be nothing about Him that makes me want to worship Him. i realised that it's no point engaging in philosophical, theological debates trying to prove that God exists. there'll always be someone smarter, with a quicker tongue and greater intellect than me, and he or she will prove conclusively that God does not exist. or that He's evil and nasty and vindictive.

which suits me just fine, actually, because i know that nothing that anyone says can ever take away the experiences that i've had with God. personal time with a friend. whom i love dearly.

my faith is like jazz. it likes to be free. it enjoys what it does. and it sings a soothing song in my heart, of a God who reigns on high.