A Normal Life

Not in the Cards….

Inmates in prison don’t talk much about retirement or careers or buying houses. It’s like the despair inside is so toxic to your hopes and dreams that they choose to idle outside the fences, awaiting your release. For people in prison there is no future, only their release date. It’s always amazed me how much prison narrows your vision. Looking back it seems like psychological warfare. First stripping away your name and replacing it with a number, placing you in housing with no doors or private areas, and then telling you when to eat, sleep, and wake, effectively removing all autonomy. It peels away the illusion of control and lays bare the truth of our impotence. It narrows your focus down to today with one eye cocked toward your release date. Remembering that release date is imperative since it gives you the willpower to avoid conflict and noncooperation, which will only prolong your stay. Keeping today in focus while never forgetting the ultimate goal is a trait of elite athletes whose career goals are only realized through supreme daily effort. Both are traits that we as Christian’s are called to embrace. 

But mostly, we’d rather be normal!

The American dream tells us we can be anything we want. And a well lived life is a normal life, right? You know, the American dream……..A spouse, 2.5 kids, a house, a dog, and a good job that eventually turns into retirement, grandkids, travel, and social security. It sounds perfect and fulfilling. And there is nothing wrong with it……..except that a normal Christian life is a powerless life. And without power from on high, nothing you do will matter eternally.

If you want to truly follow Jesus……A normal life just isn’t in the cards!

As a follower, you may still get the spouse, kids, house, and dog (not too sure about social security), but there will be some mountains along your way. 

The first thing you’ll have to contend with is the price……..that mind-numbing price of everything you are and ever will be. The Holy Spirit will insist on being the Lord of your life and will take the direction of your life away from you. He will insist on obedience and strip away anything you possess that will harm your soul. Most of the time this world calls such submission being a loser. You definitely won’t be called normal. 

Secondly you’ll find being conformed to the image of Jesus isn’t a walk in the park. Made even more difficult by the fact that you're infected with the virus of sin that makes you desire the exact opposite. I personally have found the process of conformity to be frightfully difficult at times. And make no mistake, God will require some pretty big adjustments and alterations to your life. You can’t continue life as usual and go with God at the same time. Even Jesus left comfort and position in Heaven to adjust to God’s plan of redemption for us. Tell somebody you're being conformed to someone else’s image and see if they call you normal.

And soon you’ll find that there’s an enemy in this cosmic war and you just raised your hand to be a soldier in the fight. And just like that, you got his attention. Temptation and trouble usually accompany his attentions. If you had been a farmer in WWII France when the nazi’s overran the country, you had a choice, you could have continued farming and tried to stay out of the nazi’s way, or you could have fought for your country with the French underground resistance. The latter would have been highly dangerous and would have likely gotten you imprisoned or killed. This is God’s world and the devil’s been allowed to overrun it. Although we know how the war ends, life as a freedom fighter in rebel territory can hardly be called normal. 

Lastly, in my experience, growing closer to God requires faith, and true faith only comes from testing. Yea, I know, nobody likes time in the wilderness. But you're not much use to God if your faith can’t withstand a storm and you definitely wouldn’t have much of a testimony. I personally would have no story to tell without prison and certainly wouldn’t be doing any writing. Determined to embrace suffering for His glory is not even in the same zip code as normal.

When writing this I found myself puzzled. I’m a follower of Jesus which means that all the above adjustments and sacrifices I am committed to making. Yet I cannot explain to you why? I find myself searching for a way to “sell” you on the proposition. To try and convince you to not be normal but decide this very minute to become a true follower. Yet, from the American dream point of view, there are few selling points. Surely I can recite sound reasons for my own commitment, right? I cannot. At times not even to myself. 

I can only point to Him and implore you to see for yourself. I keep calling it magic because I have no words. That might sum it up, a writer with no words. I can only say that I will continue following until that dying breath, of which I have no fear………which is maybe a little inkling of the answer that eludes me.

In the end, you can’t go too far wrong if you follow in Jesus’s footsteps. You might not have a normal life, but you will be proud of it when you're done. And so will your Father in Heaven.