Yesterday our little family of faith met together for a meal and spent quite awhile afterward just hanging out.  We had some new friends show up yesterday evening, so I was glad we had such a delicious meal to feed them (thanks Trina!).

After the meal, we sat around and listened to our Japanese friend Nobuki describe his journey for the last week.  Let me give you some background:

So I’m sitting in the library, minding my own business, when I get a call from Nobuki.  He says that he needs to be dropped off at the Abilene Airport - I ask him where he is going.  He tells me that he’s heading to Austin, TX and is leaving today.  When I asked him when he flight was leaving, he said, “I don’t have a flight; I just need to get to the airport.”  Sort of startled, and giving up any sort of pursuit of a straight answer over the phone, I arrange to meet him.  Later that afternoon, I pick him up.  Strangely, he has no suitcase, or bag…only a gallon of water and a satchel, which looked strangely empty for a week long trip to Austin.  Come to find out, he’s hitchhiking his way there.  He tells me in broken English that he has felt called by God to leave town and to fully depend on him to protect and sustain him.

Now, a week later and with slightly darker skin, Nobuki sits in our living room recalling the previous week’s events.  How time after time God showed up in the strangest of places, and came through to provide and protect at just the right time.  All of us just sat at the edge of our seats, with giddy smiles on our faces.  I watched the group listen as much as I watched Nobuki speak.  We were hooked - this was radical - this was revolutionary; a tangible change in life because of faith.  This was news to us…it was GOOD NEWS.

There’s no way that our beliefs can happen in a vacuum.  Unless followers of the Way start living a different “way” than everyone else hell-bound, what is our message?  We are effectively saying “Our beliefs about a man rising from the dead 2,000 years ago has no practical bearing on us at all as citizens of the 21st century.  This is absolutely, positively a dry and demoralizing set of propositions - nothing more.”  When I listened to Nobuki’s story, I was reminded that the Gospel always wears clothes - it is always wrapped in a culture and doing something that speaks good news and hope to that culture.  Nobuki’s trip flies in the face of America’s 3 cardinal virtues: convenience, efficiency, and speed.  He denied himself comfort and security hoping that God would protect him.  For someone who is looking for a meaningful alternative to this culture, this is the kind of story that brings a smile to my face.  That’s good news.

Last 5 posts by Mark

• God is Wholly - October 2nd, 2008
• The Great Moderation - September 30th, 2008

This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Discipleship, Doing and Being, Gospel in Action, Listening, Spiritual Journey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.