Experience Jesus. Really: Finding Refuge, Strength, and Wonder through Everyday Encounters with God

Here he is trying to rescue us from the barrier to experiencing God and his Kingdom that has been formed within us by the time we reach adulthood—the weary, skeptical cynicism . . . the guardedness. Jesus says, “I have so much to show you, so much to offer you. But you’re going to have to let go the cynicism, skepticism, and pragmatism. Open yourse

Do you understand that to make Jesus and his Kingdom practical is to strip it of all wonder, mystery, and power? It’s like asking for the mechanics of falling in love, enjoying sunlight on the ocean, comforting a frightened child.

A woman whose child was dying came before the gods to seek their help. “Please save my child,” she prayed. The gods responded by putting three boxes before her. “In one of these boxes is the cure to save your child’s life.” “The second will release famine in the land. The third will bring a curse on someone you do not know.” “Choose as best you can

A friend asked me this week, “Yes, but how do I love God? How do I take refuge in him? I mean, practically speaking?” It is the question of the person discipled by the Internet. As soon as you hear the demand for the practical, in simple, clear immediate steps, you know you are talking to a Disciple of the Internet.

The ordinary mystic, the friend of Jesus . . . Enjoys the palpable presence of Jesus, their Papa, and the Holy Spirit.ii Hears the voice of God in daily living. Is able to enter into an inner communion with Jesus, who dwells in their heart. Draws their life from God. Is not surprised by things like miracles breaking into everyday life.

As Chesterton explained, Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland.

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.2 There is something wonderfully childlike about this; they have one foot in nature and the other in the unseen part of God’s

The devil fears a soul in union with God as he fears God himself. SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

So when the fifteenth-century mystic Thomas à Kempis offers the following invitation, he is speaking of an experience that is completely accessible to every human being: WE ARE ASSURED THAT CHRIST NOW LIVES WITHIN US, WHICH MEANS THAT WE CAN ALSO EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE DEEP WITHIN OUR OWN BEING.