Coffee with Jesus

DISCLAIMER: I am aware that I make certain assumptions with which non-believers, and some Protestants, cannot subscribe. Aware, but uncaring; It is NOT a question of ignorance, but apathy.

WARNING: VERY SCATTERED AND DEFINITELY A PRODUCT OF THE MIND OF A MAN WHO HAS NOT PREACHED THE TRUTH WHICH GOD HAS LAIN ON HIS HEART IN FAR TOO LONG!!!

When I'm in California I simply live for the Sundays. Many people say they live for Friday, or for Saturday, or for Mondays (as is the case of the "workaholic") and thus of course reflects their passions and the proclivities. So, too, is the case with me. I'm not saying that I live for Sundays to sound exceptionally pious or righteous in my pursuit of God. Not at all.

In fact, Sunday represents for me a few of the things I crave the most: for community, for solitude, and for an opportunity to grow silent and encounter the Holy.

Community and Solitude? Aren't these two mutually exclusive? On the contrary - each is necessary for the other to prosper, to flourish. Someone said, "the loneliest place any man can be is a room full of people." If Someone didn't say that already, then mark today in your bookmarks: for now I have. Back to the point. I have recently been confronted by my greatest weakness, my greatest vulnerability: Loneliness. I was blessed my last semester at UMHB to live with 4 of the greatest men I know and the 4 greatest friends I have ever had.

A Brief Aside: skip ahead if you know my roommates or already understand my point via the lens of your own experience.
-Asa and I can not see each other for months at a time and get together and all of a sudden he has me preaching my heart out ( and he has the patience and endurance to let me pour my heart out and actually HEAR what I have said and respond with concepts and application that only hurl bricks of c4 into the already pyrotechnically astounding conflagration).
-Zach takes me from the dullest of moods and most complacent of modes and flips a switch which lights the room, mysteriously illuminating all the opportunities for mischief like strobe lights through 17B Night Vision Goggles.
-Tim's heart so often matches my own its disturbing. One minute we're griping about the pains in each of our lives, the next minute we're talking about the same things and accidentally realizing our own shortcomings in each situation. We walk away with new perspectives and often a new awareness of the steps needed to right or transgressions.
-Travis and I had a great deal of trouble actually working out an accountability system that worked... and now we've found a way to correct that little problem. And easily corrected it is because Travis has a heart that is willing to suffer alongside and/or for the benefit of a brother. He has been invaluable in my education and my growth, as have all my guys.

And I wasted that time.


Now on Active Duty I am, by contrast, surrounded by people who's entire paradigm is so often contrary to my own. The Marine Corps advertises a "brotherhood, a bond, closer than any you've ever felt. A bond like you've never imagined." And certainly, it does offer an bond closer than many in our segmented, individualistic society have ever experienced. But for a man who has experienced the bond that can only be found in the walls of the church, built on the foundation of a common bond in Christ, and maintained only in a atmosphere of honesty, of love, of compassion (literally, the suffering alongside another), and of shared experience (which is why long distance relationships, outside of the few who are bonded tightly enough by Christ, so often fail).

All that to get to this simple point: I have recently reaching a place in my life in which loneliness has reached levels only matched by a point in my life when I held a blade to my wrist, clinging only to the thought that funerals were too expensive for my family to manage at the time. Were it not for the presence of Christ in my life now I would have already spun into a whirlpool of depressions so deep all the Prozac in the world couldn't be fashioned into a rope which which I could be exhumed (intentional diction is utilized here).

In our loneliness, when we lack community, solitude becomes such an unbearable experience that even when we attempt to find and experience solitudes joys we become lost in what goes on around us. We begin looking around for anyone who will rescue us from it. That may come in the form of finding one person and latching on to them, calling or text messaging them incessantly, facebook/myspace stalking them, and Googling their name at all hours of the night. It may present itself in our clinging to a trend or a tradition or a group (even one not normally attractive to us). For me, it took the route of unusual activities. For the first time in my life, I found myself heading out to bars just to meet people - and the only way to meet people is to have a drink and buy a drink (or have one bought for you, hint hint). For the record, I have since taken a fast regarding alcohol, and it is going absolutely SWIMMINGLY! I'll be happy to discuss this another time.


When we lack solitude, we can scarcely participate in true community. When we don't take the time or put the effort into developing and processing on our own, we can offer little or nothing of substance to the group. And then we tend to the errors I have mentioned previously: co-dependence, and the like. Or, of course, there is unhealthy seclusion, in which we forsake the meeting together with unbelievers.

Community is a hot topic among todays Christians, especially at the collegiate level. Many church-goers have become frustrated and disillusioned with the Southern caricature of a woman with enormous, ice cream shaped hair and a smile which is clearly supported by wires attached to a retainer asking with that East Texas accent questions which both she and her partner know will result in Sophisticated (look up this word with reference to Sophistry), quip remarks. Let me paint for you the basic script offered to Southern pastor's wife, to which she may add her own "pieces of flair." In fact, I'll even translate it parenthetically.


Pastorette Jo-Ellen (no offence) "Why hello, brother Jeffrey. How are you this lovely Sundie [which, by the way, is neither a word, nor a day of the week!] mornin'?" (Hello. You know what to do - I've got a lot of people to greet.)

Parishioner "Oh, you know me! Standing strong in the grace of the Lord!" (For the tenth time, my name is Jeff. And I'm miserable. What part of wife, kid, and divorce don't you get?)

"Good to hear! Good to hear! Enjoy the service and don't forget: it's high tithe Sundie!" (Your life sucks, but thanks for playing by the rules! The organist is out sick, and I need to get my hair done this week)

"Will do, Jo-Ellen! Don't worry, I've got my checkbook today!" (Good to hear? Did you even HEAR me at all? Enjoy the service? How can I sleep on these pews?! And why would I give an offering? I'd rather spend the money on one of those fold-out foam bleacher pads that matches my Bible cover. Three times I've come to see your husband this week and three times he's been playing golf with a "parishioner in need" with a +3 handicap!)


An exaggeration? Perhaps. But the earth was the ONLY thing created ex nihilo! This is NOT what we crave, and it is NOT what the church was designed to offer.



But even halfway across the country, despite the absence of my Pastors: Dave, Will, Tim, and Kyle, and my Brothers: Ace, Z$, Travy, and QT (Tim) the Aggie, I am able to experience a great measure of community. The Rock San Diego offers a great deal to its visitors, as is evidenced by Miles McPherson's invitation to each and every individual guest in the service to introduce themselves personally to him - right there as part of the service!


My summation of expression, though verbose and convoluted by rhetoric, is this: Hard times come wherever you are and whenever they will, regardless of preparedness. The Bible teaches that the Woman of God "dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong," (Proverbs 31.17, ESV). What does this have to do with you? If you look this up in the NIV, NLT, or the Message I swear I will personally slap you the first chance I get... The term "dresses," sometimes thought to simply mean "prepares," is full of meaning. Literally, it means "girds up [her] loins." Its a term that refers to the suspension of one's garments in a way that allows one for free movement, most commonly for WAR. Why is this significant? Because this woman's work is important, and it is her usual role (I am NOT being a sexist here - for my scribblings found elsewhere I cannot vouch). And it is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that she will EVER have to go into combat. But the picture here is clear: she being made ready in mundane tasks to do whatever task, however unlikely, she may be called to do.
You and I must "gird up our loins" (Nahum 2.1, etc.) and discover and treasure both (1)the time we have in close proximity with those who make us strong and (2) the time we have in solitude, listening to voice of God like the prophets in the wilderness (and Jesus in Matthew 4, for that matter), committing to memory the word of God (Ps 119.9-16), and EXPERIENCING Testimony building incidents which occur for the edification of the community to which we belong.