life abundant?

Jesus came to give life and life abundant.

He said so. I promise.

I am not sure that my life always reflects that abundance. Too often I settle for mediocrity. I often feel like the Mr. Incredible trying to sell insurance. I am trying to squeeze my life into the margins that it is supposed to fit. My faith can feel like the mold that I have to fit all of my passions into. My faith becomes about being well-behaved and polished.

But is it supposed to be that way?

I don't think so.

Before I was a Christian I was a classic "could of been" person.

"I could of made the basketball team, but the coach didn't like me".

"I could answer that question, but what's the point"?

"I could care about those people, but what can I do"?

"That person would never like me, who am I"?

It was Jesus who taught me passion. It is the lie of church culture that often tries to squash it. Love doesn't stop when it is pressured to, it pushes through, it finds cracks, it has to find a way to expand out or it has to shrivel up and die.

There are only two options.

I refuse to allow the great adventure of my life to be what I watch on TV, the video games I play, the music I listen to, or the books that I read.

If life with Jesus cannot be bold, passionate, full of love and an adventure than it is all a pile of shit and it is time to move on.

I believe that I life of Jesus can be terrifyingly beautiful and achingly exciting. I think that it can be abundant after all.

(ps. thanks spazham for inspiring me to try and blog again.)