So maybe I've gotten things wrong over the years. I don't think God intended us to live in some high and lofty place separating spiritual and physical in an attempt to reach a new perspective on reality. Maybe the sun beating on my body as I sit on a bench sitting at lake mirror is true reality. I'm pretty sure a burn victim or a patient with an incurable disease has to face the facts of this truth in a very painful way, but what about the first time mother or father holding their baby or a guy taking a girl out on a first date? Do you often find yourself asking if this is really happening? Do you notice the grandmother playing on the side walk with her grandson or the mother holding her son's hand? Look at their faces as they bask in the reality of this moment. It is equal parts spiritual and physical. Wait. I dare say there is no separation there. It is like they are living in a single moment the way God intended in the first place. 

Throughout history mankind has made attempts to reach out to a greater reality. The Tower of Babel. Numerous religions and philosophical ideals. Great wars and genocides. I think many of these attempts have missed the voice screaming in the distance that there is something sitting right in front of them. Reality is here! We don't need to escape from this physical world we currently eat, sleep, breath, love, and hate in. We need to enjoy the breeze drifting over the lake or the rattle of the train passing by or even the warmth of a pet or loved one's embrace.

This is not a dismissal of God, but more a refocus. I don't think God would create anything to be disconnected from the environment around it. I think Christians should be more in tune with their physical surroundings. There is so much hope I have as a Christian concerning the future, but I don't turn my back on the present or brush off every struggle in my life just thinking it doesn't matter in the end. It does matter! I love the fact that I have depth of emotion. That comes with positives and negatives. I have to learn how to rejoice in my glad times and the times when I can't pay my bills or the times when my best friend is struggling. When my buddy comes up to me and tells me there life is out of balance I don't fish around for details to see if they have committed some unforgivable act to make sure they are still going to make it into heaven if they die right here and now, instead I rejoice in their honesty and see what I can do to help them rejoice with me. Reality is the here and now! Jesus said God's kingdom is at hand. I don't usher in God's kingdom by telling them how hot hell can get (although God can use these means); I usher in God's kingdom by loving people here and now. This is the reality in which I live!

Grace and Peace,
Josh