entering the dead zone

After starting off on a high note it seems that I have entered what those TV cell phone commercials depict as "dead zones." How is it that one day you can connect with God so beautifully, and then the next it's as if either you or He has dropped off the end of the world and the ability to communicate is vitually nil?! I'm determined to keep this blog as honest and in the "real world" as possible, hence this piece.

But all, actually, has not been darkness and gloom. Some strands of light have filtered into my sometimes gloomy mind to bring some encouragement. One could say that I began this blog challenge in response to what James says (4:8), "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." But anyone who takes this seriously soon discovers that it is not a journey lightly entered into.

Few things are as disturbing and unnerving when seeking to have an intimate relationship with God then to be met with dead silence. Of course, a multitude of thoughts and voices, all clamoring to be heard, can also be disquieting. But there's nothing like silence to challenge our assumptions of God (and ourselves).

I don't want this to be a place where I take up alot of space to dump all my thoughts and reflections. Rather I want it to be a place of encouragement to others who are on a similar journey. As I said, despite much silence, encouraging thoughts have come, most related to Scriptures. I will quote the Scriptures and let you interact and reflect on them as you wish.

"When the people saw the thunder and lightening and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in
smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance...while Moses approached the thick
darkness where God was." (Ex. 20:18-21)

"Do not make for yourselves an idol...For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealaous God."
(Deut. 4:23-24)

"Come near to God and he will come near to you...Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he
will lift you up." (James 4:8,10)

Bonhoeffer, the German minister who died at the hands of the Nazis, sums it up this way:

"When Jesus bids us follow him, he bids us come and die."