Followers, Not Admirers

Went here for dinner last night - very good, service a little off, but the conversation was good with my new travel buddies. I had a dish that was basically beef tips in a garbanzo bean soup - very good, more filling than I thought it would be, and might've been part of my problem going to last night. I was up 'til 2am before my 6am wake-up call - I think I'm putting in for a siesta some time this afternoon. I also watched Love Me If You Dare after listening to the USC game - might have also contributed to my lack of sleep. It was very European, almost surreal in portraying a relationship where both people lived through a game of dares, getting progressively more dangerous and outrageous and hurtful throughout the film. I think we see "real life" alot like that, taking progressively bigger and more outrageous steps to show we've mastered some step in life, some great thing that shows the world how good or successful we are, not caring so much who we hurt as long as the perceived end justifies the "righteous" means. Maybe I'm too harsh, trying to pull something "spiritual" out of that one - maybe not.

What Christ Asks - Soren Kierkegaard

If you have any knowledge at all of human nature, you know that those who only admire the truth will, when danger appears, become traitors. The admirer is infatuated with the false security of greatness; but if there is any inconvenience or trouble, he pulls back. Admiring the truth, instead of following it, is just as dubious a fire as the fire of erotic love, which at the turn of the hand can be changed into exactly the opposite, to hate, jealousy, and revenge. Christ, however, never asked for admirers, worshippers, or adherents. He consistently spoke of "followers" and "disciples."

[Source: Daily Dig 03/13/2005, "Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter"

It amazes me how mugh we look up to the heroic acts of the saints, and how the simple day-to-day living and existing and following hard after God goes unnoticed. We feel bad because we're not doing some huge thing for the Lord, and I agree: it hardens our hearts to the life He wants to just live out through us in the tedium of each day. There's nothing fancy or overwhelming about my trip to San Juan - except for the work for which we're here - but I still want to feel that the conversations and meals together with co-workers will be fruitful.

However Hidden - Annemarie Wächter

What I am looking for is a life lived in the spirit of the kingdom of God. And that kingdom is not a vague, faraway ideal; it must be lived and fulfilled now, today... There will never be social ustice as long as we merely give up a small part of our possessions and keep the greater share for ourselves. Doesn’t every person have the right to such a life? Is there not in every one a longing for light, for God, however hidden?

Obviously it will demand a struggle against one’s selfish human nature; against the comforts of self-satisfied tranquility. Such a life requires the readiness for sacrifice, privation, and even martyrdom. Christ died on a cross, and his death did not relieve us of the necessity of going the same way. It was an example for us to follow.

I am so tired of today's sweetly gushing Christianity; of false enthusiasm and empty phrases! But I am also thankful to have found a knowledge of the burden and bitterness of Christ’s way. It is a way of conviction and
faith and therefore of action, and that is what makes all the difference.


Source: Daily Dig, 03/14/2005, Letters and Diaries of A. W. A.