One of my very favorite authors is Wayne Jacobsen. He isn’t well known. He’s not hip in emerging circles. He’s not really all that hip at all. But he is wise and he writes well. He offers a view of God’s Kingdom that bridges some of the tension between the now and the not yet. My favorite book that he has written is Authentic Relationships: Discover the Lost Art of One Anothering. I find myself in a place where I think I’ll read it for the third time.
I visit Mr. Jacobsen’s website from time to time. It’s one of the places that’s helped me regain my footing after our experience with our CLB. I’ve found myself reading this article on more than one occasion: We Already Have a Shepherd. I’ve been pondering this description of restoration:
If you really want to experience the fullness of life in Jesus, wouldn’t you want someone who would treat you as gently as Jesus treated the woman at the well while offering you the truth in a way that you could understand and follow into God’s freedom?
I wonder how we poor, failed humans would go about offering that gentleness and restoration to one another? What would that look like? Are we even capable of approaching that standard? Or is it just Shangri-La?
