Andy & Elisha: August 2009

I think the real reason I don't blog that often is my life seems boring and rather uninteresting to the teeming masses that populate the internets. But every once in a while, I happen upon a subject that I want to pontificate upon more than usual. As in, usually I just sum it up in a facebook status update, and leave it at that. But I need to say more, and making a bajillion status updates as this continually crosses my mind just doesn't seem like the right way to do this, so I'll put it here.

simply put, I've been pondering one thing:

How do people live without the love of Jesus??

The answer I've come to is that they don't ever actually live...they exist. And rather poorly, I might add. Working in the job that I have, I see a lot of squalor, depravity and the very needy, in more ways than one. This comes in many ways - drug and alcohol addiction, situations that cause poverty, decisions that cause poverty, and a myriad of other things. But the number one thing I see, every single day, is the need for love.

Of course, this can come across like some hippy post, and I know I'm going to have some people saying "But Andy, you're a right-wing, gun-toting, rush-limbaugh listening capitalist! What's this?" This is different. This is not the need for our pathetic human joke that we call love. This is the deep need, yearning and outcry of the human race for something beyond ourselves, a love that cannot be found on this earth.

The love of Jesus, of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is so much different than anything that can be found here. I don't think words can really express this, but I'm going to give it a shot. What I see in people, every day, is the need to feel worthy, to feel wanted, to feel needed, to feel appreciated, to be taken care of, to be understood, to be held when they need to break down and cry, to be absolutely loved and adored for exactly who they are, problems, screwups and all.

This is what the world as we know it cannot provide. At times, the love of God shines through people - when we love others by doing all of these things for them. But we cannot find is someone who will do all of these things for us, 110% of the time, no matter what we are doing. And that is what sets God apart - He loves us, no matter what, every second of every day. Even if we're cursing His name, or denying His existence.

All I can think of anymore is how my heart is breaking for the world - for those who don't know Jesus, for those who find themselves feeling a yearning for this love beyond anything else they've ever wanted - beyond the need for food, for water, for air, for life. The actions of people on this earth merely support this theory - our entire purpose in life, if not for Christ, is for substituting the things of this world in an attempt to fill this desire. And it never works.

Surrounded by the world, I am struck with a desire to help people find Jesus, to find the final answer in the question that is life. I cannot describe how my heart is breaking for young men and women especially. I see a group that has been told over and over again, by their parents, by their teachers, and by their peers that life is nothing but a great quest for pleasure, for "what feels good." Yes, on the surface that sounds well and good - of course you should want good things for yourself! But oh, how different the "good" things of this world are from the good things found in Christ Jesus.

Pleasure in this world only becomes pain as our generation is realizing that finding a girl, finding a guy, having money, having this car or that house is only temporary. For that house will crumble, the car will be outdated, and odds are good that your relationship with that special someone has deteriorated to a point where you don't even recognize them for who they used to be.

This has all been racing through my mind as I think of some of the people I have met in the last few weeks, especially young women. When I see their predicaments, I feel as if it has penetrated my own heart. I think of my wife, my sister, or my frinds in that situation and it is horrible. Women of the world need a loving Father - one that they can only find in God. I realize I'm rambling on, but well, it's what's on my mind.

All said, I want to help. I don't know how to help, and that's the end result of all these musings - what can I do? How can I, how can we, reach the world with the love of Jesus? We face a daunting task, as the majority of the world wants nothing to do with God, as they have all heard it before, and we Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites, and a place to run when times are tough (because churches are such suckers, and will give free handouts to the needy.)

But what could be different? We've got Big Brother and Big Sister programs, how about a "Great Father" program? There has to be a way to help heal the hearts of women who have been hurt by men, who can't imagine that there are guys out there who love them (not romantically) for who they are - not what they look like. Because so many women have given up everything in hopes of finding this love in the world, and are now desperate and broken.

Can a band of men get together - those guys who raised their daughters right, who told them they looked beautiful every day, who tucked them in at night, who helped them find a dress for the dance, who encouraged them to be themselves every second of every day - and that no boy was worth them if they didn't love them in the same way? And beyond that, the men who love Jesus - and use him as an role-model? Can these guys get together and show women that men can think beyond short skirts and skin?

I could go on and on, but it's late, and I know that it's starting to get jumbled. As I continue to write, more and more pops into my head. But I'll leave those for another musing, another time. But the question foremost in my mind is, how? I know that god is the only one that can answer that question. I want to help. I want to reach these people, to show them the mighty, awesome and amazing love that God is - beyond all that we know on earth.

And what I know, is that our current methods aren't working. We're timid, we're afraid, and we think that just "telling people about Jesus" is the answer. We need to truly reach out - beyond words, into action. Showing people the love of Jesus, and not just by wearing a cross necklace, not joining in on a dirty joke or whatever. We need to do our best to love like Jesus - heart, mind and soul, all reservations aside.

ideas are welcome. please send them my way.