Finally, a piece of redemptive fiction

"It was a cult of death: in the end there was no symbol in human history more disconcerting to Amos than Jesus on the cross. Amos was drunk, okay, he would admit it, but he loved Jesus, he loved the doomed baby and the serious little boy in the temple addressing his elders, and he adored the man Jesus became, the crafty magician sneaking into villages and healing the least of his brethren and whispering Tell no one I was here. Amos could think about Jesus for hours, how he inverted the status quo and begged us to lay down our weapons, how (and his is a stunner, as far as Amos was concerned) one of the tests scholars apply to the Gospels, in trying to determine what might be legitimately ascribed to Jesus, is this: what speech, what gesture, is the most unlikely in first-century Palestine? Find those, and ecce homo, you've found the Man. -- The Solace of Leaving Early, Haven Kimmel


Its three in the morning and I just finished this book. Shame on me for staying up so late when our youth group has a service project in the morning. But I just sunk my teeth into this book and I couldn't stop until I had found out how it was all to be resolved. And while I know that this book has everything to do with questioning huge, impersonal theological and religious ideas in the context of a broken relationship, I couldn't help but see God moving in every page, through these fictional characters. And it got me thinking about something Jesus said to his disciples about prayer, something like if dads on earth know what kind of gifts to give their children, how much more perfectly does our Heavenly Father know how to give to us. Because if this work of fiction, created by one simple, imperfect person, can portray God's relationship with humanity in such a beautiful language, how much more perfect is the real thing--God's story written about how he longs for me to forget about my past and my insecurities and just wrap my entire self around his leg like a three year old who wants her dad to take her for a ride. I was laying in bed for awhile, but I wanted to get my thoughts down so I could look back on this post someday and remember the awe I'm feeling right now. I think that I'm in a season of my life where I can't figure out why anyone takes the time or effort to invest in me... so to be hit with the unmistakeable truth that the King of Eternity longs for me to dwell in Him, to find my comfort in Him, to find my acceptance in Him is a kind of revolutionary thought for me right now. A concept that has been bred and instilled in me all my life, but until now hasn't been translated as pure, unadulterated love.