The weather forecasts suggesting 2-4 feet of snow for Idaho Springs have in fact turned out to be accurate. We now have almost 4 feet of snow since Friday!
The moisture is much needed. This snowpack addition will help the Eastern Plains of Colorado in the summer as the melt will flow downward from the mountains into the semi-arid grasslands.
It's very difficult walking from the Lucas House into town with this sloppy, deep, heavy wet snow as most homeowners do not shovel their walks although a town ordinance requires it.
Churches around town including Calvary Evergreen were cancelled as well as the Tin Shed Food Pantry. So, I went down to the Frothy Cup Coffee Shop and began inviting people to sit down at the roundtable to discuss the Bible.
In other news, my good friend, Brett Pullins, from Groveland, Illinois who has so graciously supported my journey from the get go, asked me in a Facebook post about the metamorphosis of my political beliefs since undertaking this walk across the country. He's right. I have changed my views.
When I was examining my life back in late 2013 and early 2014, I wondered why my life didn't look any different than my unsaved neighbors. As I have said before, it's not that I was "sinning" in horrible ways. It was just that I seemed to have no real evidence that my life was radically different than anyone elses. It appeared that I was following cultural mores rather than Christ. I had somehow become a cultural Christian only.
So, I began studying the Gospels, reading them voraciously. My goal was to find the real Christ Jesus, not the one that American culture created. Not that American culture is necessarily worse than other cultures, although there are aspects of it that which I can no longer condone.
I instead sought the authentic Jesus. I think we all create our own version of Jesus. Some of us believe he was a weak, skinny pacifist who was a great teacher but nothing more. Some think of him as a conquering hero who came here to judge the world. Some on the right think that Christ would have made a great Republican and would be very comfortable at CPAC meetings wearing a three piece suit with a red power tie. Some believe Jesus wants them to be materially rich and wealthy beyond their dreams.
But, the Christ I found in the Gospels was completely different than the Jesus I grew up with. I have a relative who believed his entire life that God rewards a "good" Christian with material wealth and supported the corollary belief that the poor are being punished for their sins with poverty. This belief system is ubiquitous in the social and familial circles I used to travel in.
However, in the Gospels I found a Jesus who warned constantly about acquiring wealth and that I couldn't serve money and God simultaneously. Only one of those could be my master with the other taking a back seat.
I found a thoroughly radical man. A mystic. I didn't find a Jesus who studied the Scriptures from dawn to dusk like the Pharisees did. Instead, I found a Jesus who didn't just talk his walk but rather he walked the walk. I found a Jesus that constantly went out at sunset and spent the whole night praying to his father.
His life was the "Way." A way is a pathway, a way of life. It's not just about a belief system or an intellectual dogma.
In the Gospels, the story is related that when told his mother and sisters and brothers were outside and wanted to talk to him Jesus said that these here, the people he was talking to, were his mother and sisters and brothers ; that those who hear the word of God and DO the word of God are his true family, not his blood family.
I found a Jesus who in fact stated he did not come here to judge the world. He did not come here to be served but rather to serve. I found that he was not only God Incarnated but a human as well.
I found a Jesus who gave up his livelihood and went town to town as an itinerant preacher proclaiming the advent of God's Kingdom breaking into human history for the very first time. And, ultimately, his Kingdom will be established physically here on the new Earth. That's the real good news, that's the real gospel.
Another problem with my religious upbringing was that Jesus's divinity was so over emphasized to the point that his humanness was inadvertently discounted. Thus, it was difficult for me to identify with Jesus when growing up. It's obviously hard to identify with an omnipotent God who was in control of all things at all times.
Jesus championed the poor the lowly, the marginalized, the repentant sinner. He would not be a conservative Republican today. On the other hand, Jesus never told his followers to build his Kingdom by manipulating the political system either. Rather, he told them and us to go out and proclaim that his Father's Kingdom is among us right now. And, he told them they must let go of their lives and throw caution to the wind and put all our skin in the game of life so to speak.
Lose your life in Christ to save your life. He didn't tell us to run for President or Congress. His Kingdom is not of this world meaning it's not to be fashioned after the "wisdom" of man but of God.
However, when I see Wall Street sucking the life out of my country and the corporations and politicians stealing from all of us I feel a rage bubbling up from inside and I want desperately to take a whip to them and drive them out of the body politic.
So, no, I am no longer a Republican. Nor am I a progressive or Democrat. I'm a follower of the "Way." My political views are no longer identifiable as part of any political party.
To me, trusting in any political system, Socialism or Republicanism/Democratism forms of government or philosophy is trusting in man not God. It's trusting in Egypt...metaphorically speaking.
So, as I continue this journey, my views be they religious or political are bound to change even more. But, that's what life should be about: seeking God and changing your life becoming "born again" dying to self and daily following Christ on the Way.
BR Schoenbein
April 17, 2016-Sunday
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