Conversations With Christopher West: The Boy With The X-Ray Glasses

I met Christopher West when I was 21 years old and a student at Marquette University. He is 10 years older, but at the time, he seemed 150 years ahead of me and from another universe. He had conviction, faith, and spoke a foreign language. We were coming from different places, it was clear, and I wasn’t too sure I wanted to be associated with his end of anything. Then we talked about music and a bridge was formed. A pathway between his world and mine hung between us. But a bridge alone only stands as an opportunity, not a destination.

Christopher never pressured me to cross, nor belittled me for dwelling where I was. He never yelled from afar. He simply walked to the middle and encouraged me to do the same. Few people take the time to know the heart of the sinner. Few people plunge their hands through the weeds and dirt just to feel the grain seed below. With the hand comes warmth and with that warmth, the condensation of the heart. The wheat cracks through the soil and new life can begin.

If there is one thing I have learned about my friend, some 15 years later, it’s that he doesn’t simply provide a warm hand; he is the warm hand. He doesn’t simply extend his heart; he is a bleeding heart. Christopher is the real deal, fully committed to follow Jesus and walk the talk. Is he perfect? Absolutely not! Like all of us he fails and falls. But no one can claim indifference as one of his imperfections. He is like a broken human truck stop faucet that spews scolding hot water on any hand within its proximity. Maybe it’s the x-ray glasses he bought as a kid that enable him to see past the weeds and through the dirt. Maybe its because he is not satisfied with first glance impressions and small talk. Maybe its because he’s a stubborn holy fool with an insatiable appetite who shoots past social norms at 100 mph in search of the theology of YOUR body … I don’t know … probably a combination of all three. But I do know whatever it is, it is genuine, overflowing, undiscriminating, unconditional and unparalleled to anyone I have met.

When I pressed record for this podcast conversation I didn’t want to capture just the author and presenter, I wanted the hand and the heart. I wanted the one who drew me out on a bridge and into new lands. I wanted my friend and I wanted to share him with you. Well … he showed up and we went for a stroll. I am pleased to give you Time & The Mystery: Conversations with Christopher West.

P.S I have come to find something else out about Christopher in our time. He doesn’t actually live on the other side of that bridge … He doesn’t bring you to any dwelling place, campsite or hut … he just keeps leading you through the brush, moaning and grunting at the flora and fauna, pointing out its hidden beauty, and occasionally muttering the words “Mercy!” and “Glory!” It’s obnoxious …

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Artwork By David Leiberg

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