{"id":354,"date":"2012-11-07T06:12:34","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T12:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/?p=354"},"modified":"2012-11-07T06:20:03","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T12:20:03","slug":"i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Last month, we asked people to join us on a 31-day challenge to do something Amazing every day.\u00a0 One common theme we saw in the Amazing stuff people shared was wonder.<\/em><\/p>\n

People weren\u2019t trying to add one more busy thing to their already button-popping-ly-full lives.\u00a0 Instead they were looking at what was always there in front of them\u2014a tree dropping leaves, a grandmother\u2019s face\u2014and seeing it for what it really is.<\/p>\n

This month, Chrissy will be blogging weekly about nourishing this thing called wonder<\/em> in your life.<\/strong>\u00a0 As always, share your experiences here and on our Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About 9 years ago, I wrote the letters \u201cWONDER\u201d sideways in a margin of my Bible.\u00a0 The passage next to the word, underlined, read:<\/p>\n

I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.<\/strong> \u2013Phil. 3:13a<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the \u201cit\u201d Paul is talking about?\u00a0 He leaves the \u201cit\u201d frustratingly unnamed, just calling it the thing \u201cfor which Christ Jesus took hold of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could it be that Paul\u2014even this guy who so carefully spelled out the core tenets of the Christian gospel over and over again to form the foundation for all Christianity to come\u2014even this<\/em> Paul knew there was more he hadn\u2019t grasped?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exciting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Often we treat the Bible like a textbook we just need to study hard enough so we can pass a multiple choice exam.\u00a0 We can nail down all we need to know about Christ in four sentences, and have it down pat: salvation made simple.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m all for salvation being simple\u2014it isn\u2019t complicated, really, to accept the payment of Christ for our sins and receive forgiveness and eternal life.\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 That\u2019s the beginning.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t stop there.\u00a0 It unfolds all day every day.<\/p>\n

I like thinking that even Paul knew there was more to take hold of, more to experience, more to unravel and discover.\u00a0 God is by no means only<\/em> simple.<\/p>\n

I see that sentiment elsewhere in Paul\u2019s writings when instead of the word \u201cgospel,\u201d he uses the word \u201cmystery<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 He writes, \u201cGod has chosen to make known \u2026 the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 That Christ would be in us, that we have hope of glory\u2026 this is a marvel worthy of wonder.<\/p>\n

Wonder should shape how we read the Bible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was reminded of this word \u201cwonder\u201d recently as I talked with old friends about what we have appreciated most in different groups we\u2019ve been a part of who have met together to discuss God and the Bible. We agreed that one aspect of our favorite groups was that they were comfortable with, even fostering, a sense of the unfathomable mysteries contained in the Word of God.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to know that I\u2019m in over my head.\u00a0 I want to be aware of all I don\u2019t know, the questions I can\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n

Wonder should shape the way we live.\u00a0<\/strong>(Tweet this<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I scrawled that word \u201cwonder\u201d in my Bible at a time when my life had been snowed in by a blizzard of wonder.\u00a0 Wonder came in the form any parent will relate to: a baby.\u00a0 I had just had my first child, a child I didn\u2019t expect to be able to have, and who didn\u2019t seem at all to fit in our crazy life of moving to China and completing graduate school at the same time.\u00a0 Instead she fit in ways that were wonder-ful in every sense of the word: Full of wonder, day after day.<\/p>\n

You hold a baby, and you have to wonder.\u00a0 How all infinity fits in that little body.\u00a0 How those little fingers will one day grow wrinkled.\u00a0 How those little toes curling at your tickling fingers will fit adult sized shoes.\u00a0 How that little face not yet learned to smile will speak to the world.\u00a0 How those little eyes will see things you\u2019ve never seen.\u00a0 How that little body will face sickness, will one day will die.\u00a0 When I looked at my baby daughter, I was learning to see mysteries deeper than I could know or write<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To look, and really look, <\/em>at a child is to see the love of the One who made her and all miracles<\/strong>. (Tweet this<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

And you don\u2019t have to be looking at a baby to see that.<\/p>\n

I want to be a noticer, a studier, one who looks into all these questions of life and sees into the corners of every speck of dust and shaft of sunlight<\/strong>.\u00a0 But in practice it isn\u2019t so easy.\u00a0 It takes practice to learn to see to the heart of life, to find all the miracles around us.\u00a0 How much easier are the busy tasks that keep us wandering around our homes, snatching handfuls of snacks<\/strong> and wondering nothing more than where all the time went.<\/p>\n

Too often I measure my days in activities crossed off a list.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t I rather measure life by epiphanies, <\/strong>what I\u2019ve learned about facets of the human condition, moments collected in the attic of my memory to share with future generations?<\/p>\n

Do you read the Bible with a sense of awe and wonder?\u00a0 Where have you stopped to notice and wonder this week?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Leave a comment below.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you actually marvel and wonder at life, leading to a life that is often marvelous and wonderful? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1181,"featured_media":356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amazing-days","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nI Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you actually marvel and wonder at life, leading to a life that is often marvelous and wonderful?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you actually marvel and wonder at life, leading to a life that is often marvelous and wonderful?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"This Ordinary Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-07T12:12:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-07T12:20:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/264\/2012\/11\/20120903.24770.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christine Jeske\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christine Jeske\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/\",\"name\":\"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-07T12:12:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-07T12:20:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#\/schema\/person\/fe24b0b9ada10c8f43c291516540b3c1\"},\"description\":\"Do you actually marvel and wonder at life, leading to a life that is often marvelous and wonderful?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/\",\"name\":\"This Ordinary Adventure\",\"description\":\"Trying to live out Jesus' extraordinary teachings in the midst of the mundane.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#\/schema\/person\/fe24b0b9ada10c8f43c291516540b3c1\",\"name\":\"Christine Jeske\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a1a054abbc3e180612be1929f90d6bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a1a054abbc3e180612be1929f90d6bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Christine Jeske\"},\"description\":\"Christine Jeske (@ChristineJeske), author of Into the Mud: Inspiration for Everyday Activists, has spent seven years working overseas in microfinance, refugee resettlement, development, and holistic missions with her husband Adam. Their journeys have taken them from Wisconsin to Nicaragua, China, and South Africa, culminating in a new book This Ordinary Adventure: Settling Down Without Settling and a related blog. Christine currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where she writes, speaks, teaches for Eastern University, parents two children, works toward a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, and blogs at Into the Mud.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/author\/cjeske\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder","description":"Do you actually marvel and wonder at life, leading to a life that is often marvelous and wonderful?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder","og_description":"Do you actually marvel and wonder at life, leading to a life that is often marvelous and wonderful?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/","og_site_name":"This Ordinary Adventure","article_published_time":"2012-11-07T12:12:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-11-07T12:20:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"1000","height":"1000","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/264\/2012\/11\/20120903.24770.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Christine Jeske","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Christine Jeske","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/","name":"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-07T12:12:34+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-07T12:20:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#\/schema\/person\/fe24b0b9ada10c8f43c291516540b3c1"},"description":"Do you actually marvel and wonder at life, leading to a life that is often marvelous and wonderful?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/2012\/11\/i-will-not-run-past-the-god-of-wonder\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I Will Not Run Past the God of Wonder"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/","name":"This Ordinary Adventure","description":"Trying to live out Jesus' extraordinary teachings in the midst of the mundane.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#\/schema\/person\/fe24b0b9ada10c8f43c291516540b3c1","name":"Christine Jeske","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a1a054abbc3e180612be1929f90d6bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a1a054abbc3e180612be1929f90d6bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Christine Jeske"},"description":"Christine Jeske (@ChristineJeske), author of Into the Mud: Inspiration for Everyday Activists, has spent seven years working overseas in microfinance, refugee resettlement, development, and holistic missions with her husband Adam. Their journeys have taken them from Wisconsin to Nicaragua, China, and South Africa, culminating in a new book This Ordinary Adventure: Settling Down Without Settling and a related blog. Christine currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where she writes, speaks, teaches for Eastern University, parents two children, works toward a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, and blogs at Into the Mud.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/author\/cjeske\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ordinaryadventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}