Interpretation

Below is a picture of my son's foot x-rays. He broke his foot jumping off of our bed.

I know the pic is blurry and you can't even see where the fracture is located. It's there. Right at his fourth appendage in his foot.

Looking at this pic reminds me of the book I'm reading. Rob Bell's "Velvet Elvis". The velvet paintings of Elvis are just interpretations of the "king" which leads to how we interpret who God is and how we should live out our faith in Him.

I had an interesting week and I had actually been thinking about this topic before I had a chance to crack the book. I witnessed something at work that made me sad, and it made me angry, and it made me feel disgusted at the Christian body. As my fellow staff members were discussing resident behaviors in the house, the nurse decided to bring up a resident that had been walking on crutches. She said, "one day he was walking on crutches and the next he was walking on his own, shooting basketball." Another staff member saw this as an opportunity to say, "He's healed. thank you, Jesus!" Of course, everyone laughed, but me.

I wasn't sad, angry, or disgusted with them as much as I was with the Christian body. I realized that they had such an interpretation of God that says He can't heal and that you will only see that on Benny Hinn. They think it's a ploy and made of fairy tales.

Rob Bell talks about how people base their faith on things they have been influenced by or taught.

I know that my faith has changed over the years. I started out thinking differently, trying to figure God out within a certain context. A frame imposed by my church at the time. Trying to believe in the God of the Bible based on doctrine that walled him off and hindered my growth. It was a good thing I was inquisitive and knew that I didn't believe everything they said to be truth. I had to seek on my own and in doing so, it lead me to more seeking until I found out God was in things I didn't think about before. He approaches things differently than I want him to or think He should just because it makes me comfortable. His ways are not my ways and I found out the more I ask, the more there is to learn.

Kind of like zooming in on my son's x-ray. The more I zoom in, the more fascinating and mysterious it becomes. It's not in focus, it's pixelated, and I have to interpret what I'm seeing.

As I learn to interpret where I am with Him I redefine my faith. Every time.

The velvet Elvis paintings you see on the sides of the highways are just interpretations of who Elvis is to that artist. Usually it's their favorite Elvis based on several incarnations Elvis took on throughout his life. Everyone has their favorite Elvis.

I hope that I don't define God as my favorite version, but as who I think He is based on my experiences with Him along with how I interpret the scriptures at that time. It's made me realize that I don't have the same definition for God as I used to.

It almost makes me think I have no clue, but just when I think he has left me alone.....

...there he is calling me, pushing me, loving me.