Thirty-four hours, in a packed car, with a large dog in the passenger seat. That was the setting. That was my solitary confinement.
I know I said I was getting sick of telling you about my drive, and I was. But I feel like I should share one last thing.
Thirty-four hours in solitary confinement leads to a lot of listening. I listened to music and I listened to my soul, that much you already know. But I also listened to the Bible on CD, and I didn’t realize until I finished the drive–I listened to eight books of the Bible during the cross-country trek. Eight.
When was the last time I read eight books in a day? Um, never. And I read a lot.
The difference I noticed between reading and listening was this: Listening allows you to simply sit there and let the words come over you, like gentle waves coming over your feet at the beach, like sunshine coming up over the treeline. Reading is more difficult. It’s like digging for treasures or hiking up the mountain and coming back down.
The Gospel of John was the first book I listened to during the drive. John is a crazy book really. It’s not a pure narrative like the other Gospels; in fact, it’s highly structured and organized. Certain features of the book are peculiar to John’s Gospel, not even mentioned in the other three accounts of Jesus’ life. Turning water into wine, the resurrection of Lazarus, and Christ’s prayer in chapter 17 are just a few unique features that come to mind. As for the structuring, most would agree the book is organized into seven signs and seven discourses. It also seems to be structured around the Jewish feasts. And all of this is done with John’s explicit purpose in mind: that we might believe Jesus is God’s Son and that we may have life in His name. Life.
Living and giving. Love learning to serve. Pain throwing us down. Love turning the whole thing around.
Living. Giving. Loving. Hurting. Serving.
Yellow. Orange. Red. Purple. Blue.
Omer Redden 