Reawaken Imagination

Sup (kept that up longer than I thought . . . )


I'm not sure how much sense this is going to make, but I need to get it out now or I'll forget all about it. I'm wishing I hadn't forgotten my Bible at Asher and Dayna's, but here's where I am . . .

I am tired. The past 4 or 5 nights, I haven't got more than a few hours sleep . . . I'm hoping tonight is different, because I really need it.

Mike, one of my best friends and my pastor, is going through a sermon series with us entitled Reawaken Imagination. We're ogoing through the book of Colossians, and I gotta say, it's inspired some stuff in me. And this is happening in conjunction w my daily chats with Peggy, who I would say is one of the most compassionate and loving people I know, except for the fact that she's really an angel. Her and I go through some stuff that I don't think I'd blog about, not because I don't want people to know, but just because it's so hard to put into words for me.

At any rate, I'm guessing the lack of sleep is due to both of these things . . .

Today in church, Mike was stating that we usually operate asa dichotomy - I think he used the term dichotomously, which may or may not be real. And there were a few things he was saying that really hit home for me in this current season of healing.

I used to make salvation such a one sided thing - that all it entailed was salvation from a certain destiny and some warm and fuzzies while you talk to God in the present. FOr the rest, you were on your own. But my imagination was so small . . . here's how Mike put it . . . when we are in darkness, we can't even imagine what light might look like. And when we hear someone who is operating from the kingdom of light talk about their dreams, we don't get it - we CAN'T. It's only as God takes of the blinders, so t ospeak, and we see the light, that things start to come into focus . . . when we are operating from a place of darkness, even our best thoughts are going to be dark.

For me, this means that these areas of my heart that have been off limits to God, that in my own dark imaginations will ALWAYS be some certain way, are now open to Him to shine light into. There are things that worried me that just don't as much anymore - because all I could imagine was something dark.

Now, if it sounds like I'm using dark to mean "unsaved" or something similar to that, I'm not. Again, my view of salvation has changed - it's such a process, not an event. And the being transformed by the renewing of our mind? That doesn't just happen once, but more and more every day.

Part of me feels so stupid for not seeing this all before, and the other part is a little softer on me and says, "really, Greg, you didn;t know any better." And with that thought in mind, I'm going to try to go easier on those whose imaginations are still being redeemed and reawakend, all the while celebrating this freedom with people who "get" it . . .

So, if you're out there reading this and feel like you know what I'm getting at, drop me a line. I don't care if we haven't talked for years or if we were never really close, or if we've just recently fought, or if I've annoyed the ever lovign crap out of you at some point . . . the point is, everything is being redeemed and restored and made right . . . and I don't think I've ever been this excited to follow Jesus . . . which is funny, because if you just look on the outside of my life, I've never been at a more hopeless spot. Such is the economics of the kingdom apparently.