Close Encounters and the Way of the Tender-Hearted Warrior

Close encounters with Jesus are life-changing and, at times, terrifying.  They are, though, the most satisfying of anything you will ever experience.  And I mean ever.

I love what C.S. Lewis once wrote of Aslan (a "type" of Jesus) in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe:  “Safe?  ‘Course, He’s not safe.  But He’s good.”  The psalmist in Psalm 101:1 declared, “I will sing of Your love and justice.  To you, Lord, I will sing praise.”  Jesus loves and accepts you completely, and—yes—JUST as you are in this moment…right here, right now.  His love for you is so far beyond anything you could ever ask for or, even in your wildest of dreams, imagine.  While He does accept you just as you are, His love for you is SO great that He will not stand idly by while you languish in the sin, destructive habits, and poor conditions of your soul and current life.  While you may take the on-going and potential destructiveness of your life lightly, Jesus can’t.  In fact, it’s quite impossible for Him to do so.

In reading this blog and (it is hoped!) by taking some initial steps in the ways of monastic warriorship (e.g., in the ways of living that are centered in and upon Jesus and the things he did and said), you will begin what I consider to be the journey of journeys.  And it is a journey that I KNOW will challenge you to the core of who you are as a person.  Coming into close contact with Jesus—and I'm talking about CLOSE and DEEPLY INTIMATE contact with Him—can be a terrifyingly comforting thing.  Just being with Jesus will chase the darkness from within you as He works diligently, lovingly, and justly to recreate who you are from the inside out and from the outside in.  In Jesus, there is no separating of the mind from the spirit or the spirit from the body or the body from the mind.  You are a mind-spirit-body, and the changes that you will experience will be manifested in all arenas of your life and person hood.

If—and this is a huge IF—you will begin this day (in this moment, actually) to approach prayerfully that which lays before you and to do so by consciously inviting Jesus to be a part of every aspect of your life—even your thoughts, dreams, and imaginings—I guarantee that you will never be the same.  Never.  I write of this from personal experience (for that really is all I have to draw from).  I promise you that NOTHING within this blog is second-hand; everything is drawn from my own personal, first-hand experiences.  As you get into these things, though, I need to warn you, okay?  (I feel that if I don't tell you these things, I will be lying to you in some way.)  Okay…so here goes...

As you proceed with practicing that which is promulgated within these and other writings and as you seek Jesus through praying His Word and by inviting Him to be an Ever-Present-Companion—even to your most personal thoughts, there will be times of significant pain, struggle, distress, and outright anguish.  This I promise.  Please allow me, though, to reassure you that, just as the psalmist wrote in Psalm 30:5:  "while weeping may last for a night, joy comes in the morning,” these things will pass.  This, too, I promise, okay?  As your brother in Christ, as a fellow human being, and as one who has walked such roads with Jesus, yes, you will be changed, you will be challenged, and, at times, it’s going to feel pretty crummy.  BUT...through it all, you will experience a joy and a peace that far exceeds anything you’ve experienced thus far.  This will happen.  Make no mistake about it:  this will happen.

THIS...WILL...HAPPEN!!

Today, in this very moment, I am the happiest person I know of (aside from Jesus, of course!).  But the happiness I experience (and pretty much experience all the time) did not come without a price.  And that price was my life.  Or, rather, my life as I once knew it, experienced it, thought and dwelt upon it, felt it, and (at times!) lived it.  In my thirty years of walking with Jesus, one of the greatest aspects of His redeeming work in my life personally has been His removing from my life that which I thought I wanted (but, upon my obtaining it, came to the discovery that I really didn’t) so that room might be created wherein He could give me what I’ve longed for my entire life:  and that is more of Himsaelf directly or more of Who He is indirectly in other people or nested within an opportunity or an experience.

For me, walking in the way of the tender-hearted warrior (my definition) is the only way of living that feels entirely courageous, authentic, loving, and God-and-other-honoring.  The core of such a way is the practice of daily and weekly prayer.  As such, this way begins and ends in continuous communion with Jesus, the Master Warrior.

God's blessings on all'y'all,

Dave