Of the many paintings at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Michelangelo’s portrayal of Adam and God is probably one of the most well known and easily one of the most magnificent. Sure, you’ve all seen it, but have you looked at it closely? Studied it? Given more than just a passive thought as to what it’s supposed to be representing? I’d like you to take such a look at it with me now, because this particular work of art holds a profound message which happens to be very important to us as people, and more importantly as Christians.

Look at the figure that represents God. Notice how his body is stretched out and twisted, his muscles are taught, his finger is pointed and his eyes are gazing directly into Adam’s heart and soul. Notice how the painting depicts the sense of urgency that God and all his creation has to connect with mankind. Do you see it? Now take a look at Adam, the representation of mankind. His posture is a little different, isn’t it? He appears laid back. His muscles aren’t taught, the posture of his hand is saying, “Well, I’m not sure I want to lift that finger.” His finger is just kind of laying there, there’s a gap between his hand and God’s, and it almost looks as if Adam, mankind, is waiting for God to do a little bit more to close the gap. And God did. He gave us his son, Jesus Christ. What else could he do? We weren’t being obedient, we weren’t in tune to his love, so he made the greatest demonstration of love possible by sending his own son to die on the cross for us.

Friends, sometimes I think we live this way. God is rushing at us, passionately pursuing us so that we may come to know him. He wants us to experience his love in compelling ways, and we’re just passively living our lives, saying, “Yea, I’m a Christian.” Even while knowing that he’s given everything including his own son Jesus Christ for us, we ask for more. As we begin this new year in 2009, I’d like to invite you into a life of passion and urgency to know God with the same sense of urgency in which God wanted to know you. The distance between us and God at any given moment is small, and all he asks us to do is respond by receiving through grace his gift of Jesus Christ, and by faith trusting him with our lives.

The past year has brought terrible tragedies to thousands of people, me included. In this new year, I challenge you to revamp your faith, to persist and prevail in prayer, and to succeed in doing God's mighty will. This is a terrible situation we're in, and it's going to take some miracles to get out of it. Go with God, and be the miracle.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am reading a book. Feast your eyes on that statement, because you won't see it too often. The book I'm currently reading is called Boneman's Daughters, and it's by Ted Dekker. I can't really say I'm a HUGE fan of Dekker, but most if not all of the few books I've read have been his. Saint was probably one of the best books I've ever read (which can't really be said for the other two books in that series), and the others I've read, Showdown, Sinner, Skin, House (a collaberation novel with Frank Peretti), and Three, have kept my attention enough to carry me through reading them in their entirities. Anyway, I'm into chapter eight of this book, and holy cow is it good. I've got it for 21 days, and there are 37 chapters, so I'm going to read two chapters a day. Two chapters a day is almost too much to digest, though (for me). The picture Dekker paints, and the depth of intimacy I already have with all the characters makes going a full two chapters in a day a feat of it's own. One of the reviews (on the back) says that the book "demands to be read in one sitting" and as intense and suspensful as it is, I can totally understand somebody saying that, but....wow. I can't even think straight. I feel like I've been a silent third party charactar in the book, watching everything that has happened so far. The book goes into the kind of detail that every person notices in real life, without going so far into detail that the reader painfully shouts "Get on with it!!!" It's almost as if the author knows exactly what I want to know about what's happening around the characters. Weird. Either it's really late, and my brain doesn't want to think right, or I'm still trying to take in everything the book has shown me so far. Whatever the case may be, this post has been a sentence-by-sentence ramble. Read the book. It's good. Sorry, I'll go to bed now.