Staying Awake

I have shared a number of selections from Mike Erre’s book, Astonished. I think theses selections below ought to make readers want to go out and buy this book. I know I will be re-reading it when I get done. Too much to comprehend and fully appreciate on one reading. I don’t say that lightly — I never re-watch movies and seldomly re-read books. Mike is one writer I have learned to love and will be picking this book up again.

 

As a follower of Jesus, I want to wake up to the fact that God is all around me and always at work. Many of us live as practical deists— acting like God is somewhere else and maybe, if we sing loud enough or pray long enough, He’ll show up. I want to be aware of the God who is right here right now, and because of that , every moment is drenched with divine presence and potential. I no longer have to wait for God to decide to get involved right here.

We don’t need more people who are busy doing church things; we need people who are aware of the bushes that are burning around us all the time. I

Every person, every relationship, every interaction, every time, every place— the Father is always at work.

Most of us miss this, though, because we sleepwalk through life. The routines of everyday living lull us into a kind of minimal awareness . Without even knowing it, we consign God’s work to our “sacred” places, times, and actions , and miss Him as He moves right around us. We live life on autopilot— eating the same things, driving the same roads, working the same jobs, sitting in the same seats over and over again. And the price for this kind of life? A dull, listless, and boring faith. Our

Life becomes the adventure God intended when we remember that God is in the equation— that He is present, active, involved, real, here, now. Because His name is I AM, the basic life-stance of the Christian is expectancy. Because God is always near and always at work, we live in eager anticipation of what He could do in our midst. With Him, what looks like defeat is often victory, what looks like weakness is often strength, and what looks like God’s absence is often the prelude to His miraculous intervention. The challenge of this isn’t in the doing of it as much as it is in the remembering to do it. Autopilot is the enemy of this kind of awareness and expectancy.

Simply believing Jesus is Lord of our lives does not magically make Him Lord. His presence must be remembered and then pursued.

Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God, Kindle Edition.