A Note to the Reader

6/18/2005

Our journey with Jesus today is much the same as for those of the first century. Despite the change in culture over two thousand years, we are just as complicated and confused, just as needy, and just as slow to grasp Who He really is. Needless to say, then, His work required to rewire us is just as radical. Will we be courageous enough to see ourselves, our families, and this world through His eyes?

This writing was intended to be a bit of a pathway—a tool—to discover more about Jesus, and that remarkable and dangerous journey sometimes referred to as “looking honestly in the mirror.” As humans we all tend to be numbed by the mundane of circumstances in our lives, the religious framework of familiar “bible verses” and “bible stories,” the sentimentality of cultural religion and tradition, and the prejudices that protect us from our sins and failings. From time to time, maybe it’s healthy to look at ourselves through others’ eyes. This writing is about that. We wanted to explore the lives of those first few humans, young and old, to know Him as He walked on this little planet of ours. We wanted to enter their experience of the One who holds the Galaxies in His hands, and touch and see and feel and struggle as they did—when the Messiah entered their lives. We wanted to enjoy, with them, all that amazed and drew them to Him. We wanted to encounter Yesu as they did....

The young ladies, you’ll notice, chose to break some writing “conventions” in the pages that follow. They said they’re still young, so they should get away with a LOT in writing style, and their helpers barely knew any better, either—so we just figured we’d all live through it, as is. : ) Hopefully, though, if a disciple of Jesus had a lisp or a physical deformation, we would still “hear” without being distracted by the externals and get the Good of it all. Similarly, we hope that the certain “unusual qualities” you’ll notice as you read these short pages won’t prevent you from seeing Jesus afresh, and seeing how very much He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We desire for ourselves, and everyone, the experience of His wonder, and to encounter a forever-change by the Light of His presence.

A friend, on behalf of,