I’ve been in my head a lot the last week, contemplating things around me, observing, learning. God’s been teaching me and showing me in practical ways how to live in a new way.

I’m loving it. It’s so good to have such a hard-core deep relationship with God. Processing through things with Him is such a powerful mind-bending experience.

You know, for seven years now my life has become increasingly dynamic and rich. It’s as if my soul and spirit are finally fully awake and alive. I feel every emotion, see every nuance and hue in the world around me, taste every flavor…. yeah, that also means that the painful things are felt and experienced deeply, but I much prefer life this way, lived and experienced to the fullest, to the monotone life I had before. Two years ago this month I came to the realization that this is really what Christ meant when He talked about giving us Abundant Life. Its not about being on top of the world, it’s about your soul being awakened to every nuance and flavor of life, both good and bad.

For me, even the bad is good. Because God meets me in the bad and walks with me through it. He doesn’t take it away, or make it less, He just fills up the space with Himself and we walk together. I’ve never been married, but I’ve been in a few serious, lengthy relationships and I gotta tell ya, nothing has ever come close to the power and intimacy of my relationship with God. No man will ever be able to satisfy and fulfill me the way God does. Does that sound sacrilegious or… sick in some way? I can’t help it if it does. Its just the plain absolute truth. No one can touch this.

"How can I picture God’s kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? It’s like a pine nut that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it…. How can I picture God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread–and waits while the dough rises."  — Jesus, Luke 13:18-20