Part 2: Don't over complicate

"The Gospel should NEVER get lost in our attempts to theologize...the pain of the cross can speak for itself, without us having to create four syllable words to describe it. The excitement of the resurrection shouldn't be forgotten. It was (is) the game changer."

Sometimes in our efforts to have a deeper or fuller understanding of the Gospel (which may not necessarily be better) we forget the experience of it. In our attempts to think it through, mull it over, and then put it on paper or articulate it, we forget two things:

1. The Gospel lived: it existed as the person Jesus Christ
2. And we are called to live it, not just think about it.

It seems to me that many of our summer interactions most often start with the second question: how do we live out this Gospel in our lives here and now? And I wonder if it is because we often forget, in all of our attempts to understand things better, we forget that is is about understanding a person better. So maybe if we began to answer question number one, the answer to question number two would be more obvious.

In my times spent with kids, I was continually reminded that I had to introduce these kids to a person...not to a theological worldview (for all you Redeemer grads...lol). And people are known not through fact alone, but also through experience. So I can introduce Jesus through story (fact) but I also needed to introduce Him in person (experience), which called me to live it out in my relationship with each kid.