After about 20 minutes of lying in bed and not sleeping, I thought to myself, “Why not write for awhile?” (I know the normal time to fall asleep is 20 minutes, but whew, clocking in college hours quickly finds you hitting the pillow & thirty seconds later stumbling into R.E.M.! Okay, not really, but you get the idea.)

So…here I am.

Anyway, my last post (scroll down a bit; or maybe not even at all!) talked about the latest issue of Relevant and how it’s been “rocking my world.” (I’m such a dork, but really, it has!)

I love Relevant Publishing because the company has really sweet vision for convergence amongst the new genre of Christian media. I feel like they are making headway in the ‘ideal’ of a joining of broadcast, electronic & print media for young adults. The cool thing about Relevant & other similar publishers (I really like Cru Press & a few other companies who aren’t necessarily ‘Christian,’ but whose labels include Christian writers) is that they are rooted in Christ and are committed to being genuine and encouraging progressive thought. They want to be real; they want their media to invoke change. I want to be part of a ministry that’s like that, whether I’m writing or not.

David Crowder (whose band, for yet another random DCB factoid, will be releasing an acoustic version of their 2005 hit album A Collision in June – entitled B Collision) really did have a sweet article in the May/June issue of Relevant.

I wish Relevant's Web site posted their current issue’s articles, but they don’t, so you’ll have to put up with my not-really-up-to-par synopsis of Crowder’s piece. Actually, I think I’m going to write it in list form – it’ll be easier to read that way, because I’m bound to go on a tangent:

-DC’s wife likes massages.
-DC agrees to couple’s massage.
-DC is nervous about couple’s massage. (Root: uncertainties about massage ‘etiquette.’ Can you blame him?!)
-DC and his wife arrive at nice spa place to receive massages.
-DC backs out of massage, almost. But he decides to go for it.
-DC walks into massage room, e.g., huge palace-type area with lots of waterfalls & pretty things.
-DC is still unsure what he should do.
-DC decides to take a dip in one waterfall’s adjacent pool. Naked. He quickly realizes the pool is only about knee-deep.
-Strange sound.
-Random guy walks in.
-Random guy makes random comment. (Something like, “You should check out that other fall. It’s great.”)
-Random guy walks out.
-DC relates (very…well, random) event to nakedness before God. In a much more memorable, witty way than this list does.

In all seriousness, you should check out the article if you have a chance (let me know if you want a copy). It got me thinking about a few things:

God’s grace in our raw state: Mark Steele, one of those cool ministry-media-author gurus, wrote in his recent book that God loves us raw, even when we come to Him ‘refined.’ How cool. And how vital for a fallen world, that our Creator would not only accept us, but really desire for us to understand and respond to the huge length He went to in order to bridge that gap. A stepping-into-flesh hugeness.

The image of God & our call to be Christ’s body: What overwhelms me is that we, as followers of Jesus, are bare (…and barren, really) before God – but that He uses that! His image is written upon our hearts; branded into our very lives, and we are urged to press on and be Jesus to a world aching for authenticity. He works in spite of our sometimes ugly nature – quenching us with new life. Not life related to a Woohoo! Everything is great! mindset (I, for one, too often depend on these feelings), but life-giving based in constancy and real fulfillment.

Our transparency before God -> transparency before others: There are a few friends with whom I feel I can be completely honest. That is so refreshing! (I hope you have a few friends like that. Really, I pray that you do.) The even cooler thing about our inherent nakedness before God (and continual acceptance of that) is that it deepens our friendship with others. Our interactions become less about us and the image we’d like to portray to the world…and more about Him and His revolutionary, rich image. We grow. It’s beautiful.

I pray that you and I would be able to trust that God works not only in spite of, but because of our unrefined nature.

I love that.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)