Questions

I often find myself in situations where I am dying to ask a question.  Usually I bite my tongue, pull on my fingers, and struggle to keep quiet.  Why can’t one ask the unaskable?  Are there so many boundaries that one should never consider asking what everyone is dying to know?  Would it be so terrible if we explore what we assume to be true?
 
Ironically we let those accusing us ask the improbable.  Critics and those with an agenda often get away with it.  The reality of the unspeakable leads us to just assume we understand love, relationships, and most importantly God.  Why do you believe?  What do you believe?  Who is your God?  There is no need to be defensive; let’s just talk, explore, and dialogue!
 
I wish we could have honest conversations.  When one with an agenda laid out the unasked, unanswered, I wonder what were the answers.  “Don't let Hezekiah mislead you with his lies, ‘God will save us.’  Has that ever happened?  Has any god in history ever gotten the best of the king of Assyria?  Look around you.  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?  The gods of Sepharvaim?  Did the gods do anything for Samaria?  Name one god that has ever saved its countries from me.  So what makes you think that God could save Jerusalem from me?”  (Isaiah 36.18-20)
 
Imagine a world where the community, family, and even friends talk about the real stuff of life.  We shared our hopes, fears, and doubts.  We covered God, relationships, and real heart stuff.  We protected each others souls as if our very lives depended on it.  I long for a place such as this.  I find myself struggling with compassionate sadness because of the silence which permeates our conversations.  We have so much hope, compassion, and strength hidden among us, struggling to see the light of day.  Often we walk needlessly in the dark.
 
Today the sun is shining in California.  It is warm, beautiful, and gentle.  My heart is full of hope.  May you know it with yours.