If you find yourself here, you probably received the postcard. In this day and age, it is pretty counter-intuitive to see the value in moving in the direction of following in Jesus' footsteps - to say the least :)
The critical factor is whether or not Jesus is real in you and to you or not. If you are like me,when you read that postcard verse, where the timing was uncanny, and you were looking for it and ready for it, in the moment it blows you away. You feel very different, you experienced, for the lack of a better term, something 'transcendent', and you feel like you have a new lease on life. It's pretty awesome.
So, that is the good news. If you are like me, as the years go by, you are going to run into a lot of 'entertaining' experiences (haha) that will surely make you scratch your head, and wondering what is real and what isn't.
The best way to sustain the value of what you might be experiencing right now is always to return to the starting point. 1 year from now, 5 years, 10, 20, 30, etc, your life will have traveled down its own wild road - well, maybe it will be quiet and boring, but it will surely take you to many places in a variety of directions. Typically what happens is your experiences, and/or shifting philosophies, and/or the things other people say, and/or something you read, etc, etc, etc, they will 'conspire' to have you 'forget' about these days.
The truth is, and this is more good news, when Jesus taps you on the shoulder and flows into your life, when you experience the sweetness of his presence, even though you could never explain how something like that is possible, you know something now. The fact of the matter has been established within you.
I didn't know what to expect on the day I asked Jesus to prove to me he was real. I honestly thought Christianity (getting into defining that is a big subject for some other day, but don't be surprised to see at times a disconnect between what passes for Christianity and the reality of the spirit Jesus placed in you) was just some lame social phenomenon. People show up to church on Sunday, and they screw you from Mon-Sat. I did not expect anything. There are days when I see how it all is in this world, the things that pass for Christian, and the inter-relationship between judiasm and Christianity, then the competing off-shoot of Islam, and all the wacky and crazy, even bizarre, and outright evil connected to all the holy books, all the claims, the wars, the lies, self-serving things, and on and on, there are days I wish Jesus did not show up and reveal himself to me so I would not have to, in even the remotest way, have any association with all of the mystical baloney that I am sure you are aware of that flies around on planet earth.
But he did. And if he did so to you and for you, there is no turning back. In the end, it is a good thing, because having His spirit so personally working in my life has kept the light of my conscience burning bright. Even though I at times do not perform well, I see clearly the path to the right way ahead. I count these things as a key foundational factor to the success I have had in my life up until now. I live a healthy, stable and successful life - a far cry from what you often see when you look at 'popular' people in the culture, or the portrayals of so many in the media. People have all kinds of problems - money, relationships, drugs, alcohol, smoking, sexual issues, career, educational, familial - the list is a mile long. It takes a lot of hard work to build a great life in this world, but you won't get very far if you cannot parse out the distinctions between what is right and wrong. Jesus' spirit within has a very good track record of keeping those distinctions sharp, and at times it will be inconvenient, but you can't build a great life on lies. You can't be walking around in the dark in some fundamental spiritual root sense and expect everything to come out great.
The bible says that the Spirit of Jesus given to us leaves us with the power "to love" and gives us a "sound mind". That is an extremely valuable resource. I hope by his Spirit in you, Jesus lights your way, and empowers you to have a dynamic, healthy and prosperous life, and that you would have the courage to do your part to help others open their eyes to see Him as well.
