I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Philippians 3:19, NIV
The world offers so much. I knew a young lady who wanted to taste it all. We loved each other once. She had bopped around the world, hitch hiked through Israel. She knew all the best foods--the good things. She told me that she had eaten bread with a Spanish peasant.
By then I had heard enough. I asked her if it was not true that people all over the world are basically the same. She readily agreed. "So" I asked, "what's the point of travel?" Soon we parted after she made one final appeal for me to join her in her travels.
I had seen the superficiality of her beliefs and had even learned of the ache inside her from which they arose. How good that we learned of our incompatibility.
Just before we parted, I took a self portrait as I walked beneath a marquee that said, "Adventure is not outside a mam, it is within." Parting of the ways, parting of two world views. I was just learning of the great adventure, knowing Christ and learning His Word.
The Apostle Paul, the ultimate adventurer, shows us the way. He knew it because he lived it. I was learning that each of us has a unique way of coming to Christ, and a unique role to fulfill in His service. We do not wear uniforms. We do not march in lock step. Like in a real love affair, we draw closer to our Savior in different ways.
However differently, we come to Him and soon will rise to meet Him in the clouds. The world has nothing like this to offer.
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