i think it’s time to re-read yacconelli’s book. i was reading through matthew 18 this morning before i got ready, and verses 1-9 caught my attention. becoming like a little child, taking everything in with a sense of wonder, humbling myself again…and how to do it.

i was talking to someone this weekend, saturday morning at the men’s breakfast, about how i used to go into church in high school, and while i never said this out loud i thought it many times, with the attitude of “try to teach me something new today…i dare you.” because i had grown up in church i assumed i had heard all the stories, knew all the major points anyone could want to discuss, that sort of thing.

i was being an arrogant little so-and-so, and i wasn’t going to learn anything new because it seems i didn’t really want to…

then i got to college (milligan) and started taking some classes with a few guys who were a year ahead of me, and had actually taken the time to think about their faith and -why- they believed what they did. i wasn’t too fond of them at the time, they made me uncomfortable, but today i’m glad they were around to pop my bubble that i had been living in…so, thank you wes arblaster and friends. you guys may have actually thought of me as the american eagle poster child, and i may have been, but thank-you for being among the first to make me look beyond myself and beyond the surface of the Scriptures to the wealth and blessing that comes from actually examining what God has to say, and how our lives are impacted by not only the knowledge of, but in the living out of the Gospel on a daily basis. i remember wes had a bumper sticker that said something to the effect of “dare to think your own faith” and i’m trying still today…

i look back today at who i was then, and i would love to jump back in time, tell myself to open my eyes, get over myself and slap me around a little…

i’m still gaining a deeper understanding, seeking after the meat of Scripture, but the hard part is doing it with that childlike attitude and faith. it is a strange amalgam, deep understanding and childlike faith. it seems counter intuitive from a worldly perspective, but that’s what makes it all the more like Jesus. nothing we come up with on our own will be near as revolutionary as what Jesus has to offer already.

so, it’s time to abandon self, dig deep and look at Jesus through eyes laden with that childlike wonder…

i’m coming, mike.