a tiny grasp

I'm 36 years old. When I was about 20 there was a popular song with a verse that said something like,
"There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up from history."

I remember thinking about all the amazing things that had happened in my lifetime, mostly technological. 1972 to the early 1990's saw some serious electronic gadgets invented, developed, made smaller and cheaper and better.

Now, pushing twenty years later, the world has transcended a new millennium - and survived. As I look back on the last twenty years, the advancements have been humanitarian.

*Disclaimer* I'm looking through the eyes of an American who - with the exception of a few popular travesties - doesn't really know that much about civil situations across the globe.

That being said, America who, just a short generation ago, was slit down the middle with the ravenous blade of racism, is now being led by a black man who was voted in under peaceful conditions.

On a much, much smaller front just two seasons ago the world watched as two NFL teams, each led by a black head coach, played for the title of Superbowl champion.

There are other examples I'm missing, but it's not because I'm overlooking them. My heart has changed a great deal in the last 36 years. There is not one Christian look, action, skin tone, vocabulary, church, dialect, clothes line, lifestyle, or smile. Jesus was not legalistic and his movement shouldn't be either. Both Paul and Jesus said the words of all the prophets and the Law can be summarized into two sentences: Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and Love your neighbor.

At the end of the day, it's all about love. Love.

My favorite change in the last 36 years is the change within me. Unfortunately this is 36 years in the making. Fortunately it's only taken 36 years. Hopefully I have 36 more to do something with it. I now Love God. I now know God loves me where I am. I now Love people where they are.

This change has given me just a tiny grasp on a teeny part of the eternal screenplay that God has written. But it's a grasp and I'm hanging on. Because there is no other place I want to be.