Walking with a Stranger

The other day at lunch, a friend asked me out of the blue:

Do you feel like you know Jesus? 

  

… Whoa.

Honestly, I still can’t shake the feeling that I'm walking around and talking to someone I hardly know – that I’m walking with a stranger.

You know all those people who have had near misses and someone saved them? Like a child that almost drowned but an innocent bystander happened to be at the right place and time and jumped in to save him?  That kid is never going to forget that person.  Or the firefighter that came in and rescued you from a burning building.

For those scenarios, you'll always have that image, that memory, of someone physically coming to rescue you.  To save you from death.

With Jesus, it is different.  He physically did something - but we weren't actually there to experience it.  And, that's where the Bible comes in and provides us with testimony from people that were actually there to see it, witness it, report it.

But I still feel like I'm lacking that personal connection.  I’m still feeling that disconnect to the idea that that HE came and saved me.   That he came and saved me, and that is why I'm alive.   Shoot, my stubborn self is still accepting the fact that I am not perfect and that I will, eventually, die.  (Yeah… more on that later)  Maybeee that’s why there’s still a disconnect.  If you don’t feel like you’re in a cold, icy lake about to drown, why the heck would you feel like you need someone to come jump in and save you? 

But, Jesus promises that he’s not only got my back in case I do fall into that icy water or mess up in some other way, but more.  That there is a beautifully crafted plan for my life, and that there is a reason I am here.

So Jesus.  Came in to rescue us from that cold deep lake or that fiery burning building.  Not only to save us from horrible, scary, near death.  But to promise us eternal life?  To promise me eternal life?? 

I may not feel like I know Jesus quite yet, but it sure does feel like he knows me. 

Seems like the best way to get to know someone is to go for a stroll and chat....  

Prayer  

Reading 

Application

and

Living