Vulnerable internet moment here . . . I love Star Trek! I grew up watching the original series with James T and then drank the Rodenberry Kool-Aid in the form of The Next Generation. I watched every episode of each iteration. Every . . . single . . . one. I know, impressive. Right? I’ve never been to a Star Trek convention or anything, but that’s mostly because I haven’t had the opportunity—yet. However, something happened 10 days ago that made me smile, then giggle, and then moved me to full-on, throaty Klingon laughter.
Ok, I’ll stop with the nerdy references.
Ten days ago, James T. Kirk . . . oh sorry . . . William Shatner, now 90 years old, was launched into space. This man who pretended for 25 years to live and lead and find his meaning among the stars, finally experienced the stars first hand.
SUBSTANCE OVER SHADOWS
Shatner’s adventure makes a way for the rest of us.
It turns out liberation is found in the abandonment of our fictional living—leaving the scripted life for the unknown places of faith. Of course, this faith-life is not for cowardly souls. Faith is our willingness to turn a corner without knowing what lies before us. It’s getting onto a rocket ship unsure of our return. It means holding the hand of our Father who knows best and leads us gently down a well-worn path.
Faith is a confidence that what we have believed our whole life and given our best energy to is just a shadow—a script written by someone other than our Heavenly Father. A convincing counterfeit that is clearly seen as a fraud when placed under “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). When we see plainly what is offered us in the person of Jesus, everything else pales in comparison. Fame, riches, influence, sex, and power are now only distractions in light of his beauty. This is a lifetime endeavor of faith. I know this. So today, along with other spiritual stargazers, I move away from the safe, honored, and scripted places, and step onto the rocket ship of faith. I’m trusting—believing—God will launch us into uncharted, “new frontiers” of grace.
By the way, it was beautiful to see Kirk finally make it to the stars. The real ones, this time. It gives me hope for the rest of us.
Not even a Trekkie and that was pretty cool!!
Yes! We are called into the Greatest Adventure – the quest of “the Fellowship of the Mystery” (Eph.3:9, NKJV)
“A well worn path…” it made me think of Jesus as “the pioneer of our faith” – and, of course, those up in that “great cloud” who have followed Him in the rich, living, organic history into which we are grafted…
The Hero’s Journey begins with a call out of the safety of mundane “shadows” – to embark on a dangerous journey to discover “the treasure”.
And that treasure for us is nothing less than the unsearchable riches hidden in Christ (who IS the “Mystery of God”).
A central part of that mystical mystery is, “Christ, who IS your life”. One thing I intuit that this means is that in some larger sense the broad outlines of our script have been written once for all in His earthly life – yet uniquely incarnated in our individual lives (lived in the uniqueness of the “fellowship” – our “band of brothers” of which we are a part).
In other words, the timeless dimensions of His historic life and experiences mysteriously become our own: when He died – we died (2 Cor.5), etc.
This quest has a purpose – a ‘telos’: All these things (Romans 8:28) conspire toward one great purpose: to mold and shape us into His very image (Romans 8:29).
Thanks for sharing your infectious enthusiasm, John!
Thanks Wayne! As always, your thoughts are richer than the original post! So good.
You’re too kind, Jon – what you should say is, “write your own blog!” 🙂
Blessings brother!