Those are the two words my coworker used to describe me about a month ago. Sounds almost like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?
Naïve: I’m not going to deny it, I grew up under a rock, I’m frikin’ 23 years young and know nothing about what life is really like.
Mature: HAHA! Ask my parents for an accurate assessment...
Anyways, it’s been about 7 months since I started working full time.
Today, I am very confused. I spent my college years in a bubble within a bubble- a Christian fellowship within a college town.
And now, I really am in just another bubble. I see the same people from 8am until 4pm, Monday through Friday, and oftentimes I still see the same people after work. I love my coworkers, I love talking with them, eating with them, working with them, and they know I love Jesus, but I want SO bad for them to know Jesus.
Recently though, I've been thinking...I don’t think naïve is a word that people would use to describe Jesus.
Even if Jesus were living in the Bay Area in the year 2011, I’m sure He’d be the dude who understood people. Not the “naïve man.”
Yet in being able to understand people, Jesus would also be completely without sin. I doubt He had to get wasted to earn people's trust. And I don't think He really would need to be hippest guy to love others either. I'm sure He wouldn't have to be caught up on the latest gossip to have an engaging conversation. But I think he would be sensitive in recognizing the things people care about today yet he'd still be preaching the same gospel message.
Since moving to Emeryville, I’ve been convinced that God is here in the bay area. In college, I didn’t really believe it. I thought God was mostly in Asia and that I had to go overseas to find Him there.
But He’s in the Bay Area!
I’ve been terribly spoiled and I live in a place where I get to see this (see picture below) everyday and then I’m reminded daily that God is totally HERE, NOW.
I go on my runs and I’m just like HOLY COW, GOD IS SO BIG. I see Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, all at once. Full of imperfect, weird people, yet also God’s beloved people. And God is HERE.
I just don’t know how to show these people around me that the gospel that changed my life as a “naïve but mature” girl is the EXACT same gospel that is reaches them where they are, as well. How can I point out that God is here...that we're all messed up, but loved?
But something else also occurred to me in recent weeks...
I’ve pretty much been trying to figure this out alone.
I ran a marathon a month ago. It was a really awesome experience, but something I really wish I could’ve had was a running buddy.
I wish I could’ve exclaimed to a friend how miraculously beautiful the weather was.
I wish I could’ve told someone, “Oh my God, I have to poo!” at mile 20, because it was pretty ridiculously funny.
I wish I could’ve had someone with whom I could push through the last 6 miles of the 26.2 and cross the finish line, only to feel our legs seize up in crazy cramps. It's so cool!
This Christian journey can’t be run alone. Jesus never intended for us to follow Him on our own. He sent out His disciples, two by two. He wanted His beautiful bride, the church, to show the world what His Kingdom is all about, as a BODY of believers.
For the past year, I’ve been going to a humongous church alone. And I’m convicted that it’s time that I find a real church- not that the one I go to now is not real, heaack it’s one of the most down-to-earth churches I’ve ever attended and I love it!
BUT it’s not a church for me- it’s not a people. It’s a great sermon, an awesome worship set, a place I just go to every Sunday. It’s also an hour away from my home.
So here’s the point of this entire blah blah blah blog post. To ask for your prayers- I’m looking for a community of believers who have this vision to show people that God is right here, right now in the Bay Area.I doubt it's just going to happen when/if I find a church- community always takes a long ass time to develop, especially after schooling life, and to make things harder, I detest church hopping.
2011. Not sure what this year will look like at all. I usually don’t make new years resolutions, but my hope is that I will at least find some “running buddies.” :)
