Alive

“Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul and they promote sanctification. We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from the Spirit of God. The soul is so constituted that it craves fulfillment from things outside itself and will embrace earthly joys for satisfaction when it cannot reach spiritual ones. The believer is in spiritual danger if he allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting the love of Christ and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior’s presence. When Christ ceases to fill the heart with satisfaction, our souls will go in silent search of other lovers.”

After making it through what appeared to be several impassible situations, we rounded a bend just above 11,400 feet elevation to find impossibly deep snow.  We were in route to a mountain lake at over 12,000 feet, just below one of Colorado’s famed 14’ers (14,000 foot peaks).  We had a sharp turn to make and then up a steep slope to enter the valley where the lake rests.  I thought we might be done, but when even the previously fearless 23 and 13 year old with me thought we couldn’t make it any further, I knew we had to turn back.

The picture above is out the front of my windshield before we headed back down on Memorial Day.

Despite the fact that I am never lost for words, I find it difficult to fully capture what driving in my Jeep feels like.  It is as if the great outdoors are within my grasp even during a commute on a highway.  I strip away a panel from my soft-top, peel back the top that separates my thinning head from sky & cloud, and I am magically closer to the outdoors that my heart so desperately desires.

Because it is such a deep desire of my heart to be outdoors, to feel like there isn’t any trail I can venture down and possibly conquer, there is something else I feel when I drive my Jeep…

I feel that my Father loves me deeply and delights in me.

I know how strange that might seem… maybe a little too close to prosperity theology… but doing the things I love in the way I love to do them, is exactly what a father delights in for his son.  There is something holy about requiting the desires of your heart that were originally placed there by Him.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs.
Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that,
because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

— Howard Thurman

• Spouses
• Families
• Businesses
• Churches

They all need more people whose hearts have come I alive.

I feel close to the Father.  I feel in communion with Him.  I feel alive and exhilarated from the experience and all the earthly wants and desires (The less wild lovers of my soul that John Eldredge talks about in “Journey of Desire”) seem to fade in comparison to being in fellowship with the One I was created to be in relationship with.

Leading and loving well requires a person who is whole-hearted.  Invigorated, fully alive, and operating with all senses engaged.

• Do you feel like you are more a half-hearted creature (as C.S. Lewis says) or a whole-hearted one?
• What makes your heart come alive?  When/where/how do you feel closest to your Father?
• What do you need to start doing that you aren’t currently?