Jesus Who?

I have grown up in a church my entire life..or should I say the Church. To a kid like me, church meant a big stone building, being on my best behavior, and having to exercise self-control concerning playing in the dirt and sliding down the slide for the sake of my Sunday’s best. My tomboy self didn’t give a rip about my pantyhose..

 I had my perceptions about Jesus too. To me, he was a nice guy who I could read about in the Bible, particularly in the Gospels. He had long hair, a beard, and liked to heal people, while driving others out of temples at the same time. Sometimes he was angry, sometimes he was nice, sometimes he did some pretty cool stuff. He was a human with supernatural powers. And he had the ability to save me from my sins. I suppose this was what you would call a child-like faith. Here’s the problem: He didn’t seem real. He was a character, a cut-out figure that I could help the Sunday school teacher place in the grass on a felt board. I knew I was supposed to have a relationship with him, and that he would hear me if I prayed to him. But this Jesus I could talk to and the one I learned and read about didn’t seem to connect. They weren’t one in my mind, and my heart couldn’t meld the two either.

In reading through the Gospels a prayer of mine has remained: Jesus, may I perceive who you were..who you are.

This prayer has not gone unanswered.

Jesus came and claimed “I AM”. I’m beginning to see, more than ever before, that he is exactly who he claimed to be.

Stay tuned.