From your high school youth group on being close to God is being ON FIRE! Because God is AWESOME!
That's the temptation for youth, being trained to associate God with adrenaline and the Spirit with excitement.
What I told my student was this.
What no one ever shares with you when you're young is that Christianity is boring. No one tells you that. That Christianity, for the most part, is boring.
No one tells you that Christianity is a 70 to 80 year grind in becoming more kind, more gentle, more giving, more joyful, more patient, more loving.
You learn that God isn't in the rocking praise band or the amped up worship experience. What you learn after college is that Holy Ground is standing patiently in a line. You learn that Holy Ground is learning to listen well to your child, wife or co-worker. Holy Ground is being a reliable and unselfish friend or family member and being a good nurse when someone is sick. Holy Ground is awkward and unlikely friendships. Holy Ground is often just showing up.
Being more and more like Jesus is a million boring little things.
No one ever tells you that when you're young.
Just like no one ever tells you just how risky and revolutionary it all is.
That a truly radical life of following Jesus is made up of a million boring little things.
