In the midst of a spiritually stimulating conversation with my wife and a close friend of ours the other nite at the Weaver Casa in B-town… we stumbled upon a topic that I felt was worth more exploration. As I have attempted to explore the Truth that is inherent within this topic… I feel that the Lord is leading me to drop the convo, the discussion, and some of my post-discussion-digestion on the world-wide-web for a few of you to begin exploring yourselves.

-the convo-

It all started like this:

Friend - “So it sucks because I feel like I’m in the middle of crazy burn-out with all of my recent spiritual junk that I’ve been sorting through. All this questioning everything that I was raised to believe, and doubting everything that I’ve ever known about God. It’s exhausting and lonely. Ya know what I mean? It just sucks.”

Weav - “You feel burned out? Join the club.”

Friend - “Haha! Yeah, well it’s a little bigger than that. Like I’m having a stupid mid-life crisis at 21 or somethin’. Ya know what I mean?”

Weav - “Well that’s when the Lord speaks to us most. At the point where we are most vulnerable and available to Him. Maybe we should all have a mid-spiritual-life crisis every so often so that we remain passionate and seeking. At least something like every ten years or so… like a mid-decade-spiritual crisis. Maybe we should allow ourselves to feel the feelings that you are experiencing right now so that we can stay desperate. We need to stay hungry for Truth, ya know? I think your little crisis is a little less of a mid-spiritual-life crisis more of a state of existence.”

Friend - “Dude. That’s deep. And maybe you’re right. I gotta go to the bathroom…”

Manda - “Now you’re gonna go blog that aren’t you? I know you will. Just go do it now while he’s in the bathroom and you can actually remember what you just said.”

-the discussion-

The discussion that followed was intense (and a lot of fun). We explored this concept a little bit more (and we even debated the Essentials to the Christian Faith… which was started by a random quote by Rob Bell from Velvet Elvis). Remember that this state of “crisis” that we are discussing here is not the physical “holy crap my house is burning down crisis”… or the “oh no we just hit an iceberg crisis”… but much more of the “Mid-life who am I anyway kind of crisis”. Our discussion was only a springboard for much more post-discussion-digestion in my heart.

-the post-discussion-digestion-

Digestion Point One:
If spiritual “crisis” heightens our vulnerability and availability to Holy God… then why do we reject the state of “crisis” in our lives? Why do we not fight to exist in this state for a more extended period? Just because it’s uncomfortable? Just because we despise anything that makes us feel more vulnerable and less “in control” of our lives? Just because it is painful? And what is there of value in this world that did not cause someone some soul-searching and heartache and pain?

Digestion Point Two:
If “crisis” is, in essence, a positive thing and not as negatively-charged as we seem to view it… then how can we get to the point where we reform our thinking and (even more importantly) our emotional responses? How do we begin to re-program our souls to become synchronized with “crisis”? How do we embrace something that is this painful?

Digestion Point Three:
(WARNING: This next one might be a little heresy-filled)
If vulnerability and availability in relation to Holy God (and the real-selves that we tend to protect, groom, and hide) are among some of the end-results of “crisis”… could it possibly be that Jesus embraced the state of “crisis” to the extreme point of existing in “crisis” all of his humanity-filled, divinity-fused life on earth? Could it be that the life of Christ is the very model of “crisis living”… not our safe little twisted model of “crisis management”? Could we have possibly gotten it this wrong? Wouldn’t a grave misunderstanding of the Risen Messiah such as this lead to a grave misunderstanding of His Mission?