Wonder without wandering is not "the life" for me

Wonder without wandering is limited.

I want to experience God. I love to learn about God, don’t get me wrong, but I want more than just a head knowledge of Him. I want to feel Him, literally, when chills run down my spine. I want to stand dumb-struck when He is so evident in what I am experiencing I can’t even speak. I want to lie in wonder when He has been so real and seems so close as to be trying to make me think of new things. I want to experience Him. I learn about Him in wonder, I experience Him in wandering. It is interesting how God called so many to go, or sent so many wandering. Abraham – wandering along wondering – where am I going? Moses – wandering along side wilderness creatures wondering what happened. Jonah into hostile, or so he thought, territory. Jesus and twelve confused but committed followers. I think we experience more of God in an open field, a boat, a desert, an airport or village than we do an office or maybe even a church. So I am not content to sit and wonder in my office or church. I want to die wandering and wondering. I want to live in the fields and deserts meeting people, or meeting Jesus often times disguised as people. He is hard to notice – not what you would expect a king to look like – but He is there.
So, I encourage you to wander. Take that trip – better yet - give your life to Africa, or Mexico, or the cities or the poor. Venture out of your comfortable offices, churches and homes and wander with Jesus. Expect to experience God. I think it is ironic how I hear, so often, of people wanting to go to Israel to “walk where Jesus walked.” I walk where Jesus walked every day, among the poor and broken masses of the world. Better yet I walk with and meet and minister with and to Jesus every day among the least the world has to offer. Could we have it backwards? Could it be the least the world has to offer is the best God offers us? Could it be when we meet the poor in the eyes of the world we are actually meeting the richest? Could it be our greatest source of inspiration could come from those with STD’s not PHD’s? Wouldn’t it be wild if we were paying $100,000 fees for the chance to meet and hear a poor man – expecting to meet and hear Jesus, instead of high dollars to hear the rich and successful political powers of this world. Could we be missing out on experiencing God because we see through the eyes of the world and not the eyes of God. We sit comfortably in christian cuddles and holy huddles – sheltered from the very face of God by our walls which don’t hold Him in, as we seem to think, but may separate us from Him just outside on the corner?
To all my old and new students and anyone who may read this - wander outside your home, your office, your church, your neighborhood, your city, your state, your nation, your safety net, your life and experience God. It is a Wonder-ful experience. Still wandering and wondering - Jim