Elemental: S2 - Day 15

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” John 3:8

One day at Andrews University, I passed by the football field on the way to the cafeteria for supper. Stopping to watch some of my friends in an intramural game, I noticed the girl I liked was there watching, too. Caryl Lynn and I hadn’t dated yet. But we were on the same co-ed flag football team. So, conversation came easily. It was cold and she had no jacket so I asked if she wanted mine. “Sure,” she replied. And in a questionably smooth move, I opened my arms, allowing her to join me on the inside of the coat. Surprisingly, she moved over and snuggled in. Wow… I mean, come on now… Of all the things that could have happened on a Tuesday, that was the best.

That concrete moment is part of what we crave from God—tangible, tactile, physical. We can’t see Him. We don’t hear Him, at least not generally in conventional ways. But, if I’m honest, I feel Him, at least sometimes. John’s reference to the wind makes sense to me. I can feel God’s movement as I grasp for Him, sometimes grazing my fingertips as He escapes my capture. The Bible describes this spiritual game of tag using multiple metaphors. He is the water we bathe in for cleansing.  He is a fire that warms but would consume us if we came too close.

But Jesus' arrival on this planet comes nearest to feeding my hunger for a concrete relationship. He walks and talks, teaches and breathes. He holds little children and rubs healing mud on the eyes of the blind man. His feet get washed and He washes feet. He walks on water—WITH HIS FEET! He handles bread and multiplies it. He grabs tables and a whip, changing the décor. He pulls gauze from the recently dead. He rides on donkeys and sails in boats. And He bleeds.

He bleeds and cries and gasps for air. He feels the kiss of betrayal and stumbles under the weight of the beam. Spit splashes on His cheek. Fists bounce off His face. And He is beaten… oh, how He is beaten. As He hangs suspended between heaven and earth, chest heaving to survive, Jesus calls out to His Father and maybe to me, “Why have you forsaken me?”

And here I am caught in the irony of eyes awash in tears and the continued hunger that He be more real.

1. Whose hand do you find most comforting to hold?
2. Is there someone you wish were more comfortable to be around?
3. What moments in the life of Christ do you find most relatable?