come away with me

He is I AM. He did not answer I EXIST, or offer one of His bazillion names (all which are really for us humans to understand anyway) He just said I AM. Climbing inside those 3 letters, God explains, "I encompass, I am beyond existence, I am nothing you will ever understand, I have no beginning and no end, I am not like you, and yet I AM."

so maybe this is my faith issue... not that i have an issue with faith... i tend to like mine... it suits me well. (that was sortof a joke). but heres my thing... this business of Jesus being God. it's hard for me to understand. of course I believe, but I must confess, when i think of Jesus i don't really picture Him in His pre-heavenly state, some great existence beyond existence, some great I AM; rather, i see Him in a manger, i see Him building a house, I see Him walking with the poor, and touching and living with the 'unlovely.' The Bible makes it clear that His time as a man was but a vapor (33 years aint old yall...).
and then i see this I AM wanting to go on a roadtrip with me... cool.

Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."


I can't help but think of the Norah Jones song, Come Away With Me... and as 'secular' as it is... when i listen to it i am caught in remembrance of what Jesus wants to do with us. and for us.
here are the lyrics... and if you want a listen, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBKcKQHZXks

Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus
Come away where they can't tempt us
With their lies

And I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
So won't you try to come?

Come away with me and we'll kiss
On a mountaintop
Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you

And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me

to go away with the King of Kings and the Lord of all Lords..? i think so.
He's calling me. He's calling you to come away with Him - the great I AM.

and i want to tell you without reservation that if there is any hope for you and me, the hope we have to be in this Man who contends He is not of us, but with us, and simply IS. i think i can take HIM up on that.

i was sharing some of this with a dear friend today. i think we agreed that rest would be nice...
and i always think of something a little more profound to say after i leave... if she was across the table i would say this:

Did you realize that the first book of the Bible that was written wasn't Genesis? It was Job. Moses wrote Job before he wrote Genesis, so it feels like that God wanted to communicate to mankind that life is hard, and there is pain, GREAT pain in life, and a whole lot of exhaustion... and yet the answer for this pain is not given in explanation; rather, God offers to this pain, or this life experience, Himself. the great I AM.

To come away with the great I AM... that is our invitation... learn the unforced rhythms of His grace, and learn to live freely and lightly.

check, please!

7 words

can you do it? can you write a profound (or maybe not so profound) prayer in 7 words?

i think about Jesus when he said:
Your kingdom come, Your will be done.

7 words.

sometimes when we pray we get too caught up in the word game and not really in the heart game. God's not after our words - if He was, He would have made a few more geniuses like CS Lewis.

i've been thinking about mine...
i think this is probably one for right now:

Give me the strength to live today.

or maybe

Thank You for Your love for me.

or maybe

I'm so very sorry. Please forgive me.


what are yours?

our hope endures