“i vividly remember the day i became nauseated by philosophizing, theologizing, and debating about “God.” it was like truth was a hobby…what grew instead was a great desire to simply live and be truth…and how i have come to understand my relationship with Jesus Christ. Christ’s life becomes my life…the two become one.”

- Jim Palmer, posted a few days ago

I quickly grabbed this quote because it resonates with what I’m learning and feeling. But the challenge is in whether or not it resonates with how I’m living. Judging by the past few days, it’s a mixed record. Regardless of what or who I want to be, what ultimately matters is the reality of who I am to the stranger, to my wife and kids, to the HIV infected child struggling to find a future in Africa or Cambodia, to my friends and neighbors in Japan.

The love of God may be reality, the greatest news and hope for everyone in the world, but there are countless lesser realities and small stories that are easier, more comfortable ways. It’s so easy to choose them and put aside the way of Jesus for a day and then another.