Wide Awake in America?

My father says almost the whole world's asleep.

Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to.  

He says only a few people are awake, 

and they live in a state of constant, total amazement

--Meg 3 in Joe Versus the Volcano

"When you gonna wake up? and strengthen the things that remain?"

--Bob Dylan from Slow Train Coming

Let's see, where do I begin? How do I describe what's going on in my life? I'm not much of one for the detail and I often sadly wax philosophical with the most simple things in life, like the swirl of the water in the comode, but I'll try to keep it real.

The past few weeks I feel like I'm being aroused from a deep soul sleep, or at least I'm dreaming of waking. The spirit of God is convicting me of being asleep to God's heart for the world.  Asleep to my neighbors'  and my brothers' spiritual and physical poverty, sorrow, hunger oppression and persecution. I feel like I'm hearing the sermon on the mount (as well as much of the new testament) for the first time in my life. 

In addition to a new clarity of the scriptures,   I have wonderful new awareness of God's presence. The eyes of my heart seem to be seeing in color for the first time. I am continually filled with joy and thanksgiving for the unending blessings being poured down on us daily by our heavenly Father. 

For example, this Thanksgiving season with it's numerous personal and technological interactions with the family, has reminded me of the great privilege it is to part of a family, through blood, marriage and adoption that is so much a part the eternal family of God. So many parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces know and love God, creating an eternal bond, stronger and more real than blood itself. (I guess this is the real, true and eternal blood bond) Sadly this is not common place. It also brakes our hearts in prayer for those who have yet to yield to the Sovereign Lordship of our forgiving Father and loving Creator.

Shellie and I spent most of yesterday in the garden, encouraging one another with what God as been doing in our lives by talking, dreaming and sharing passages of Scriptures and reading from books that God is using in our lives. It may have one of the most amazing brother-sister times we have ever had! We kept returning to themes  of surrender, sacrifice, the detachment of our soul from things,  the blessings of Christian suffering, doing justice, loving mercy, a global spiritual awaking, spiritual warfare, continual thanksgiving, and intercessory prayer. There was laughter, tears and sometimes sitting silently overwhelmed by God's goodness and  grace.

Two books that God has been using as alarms to my sleep: 

1. The Heavenly Man, the story of the persecution of a modern day apostle and the Church in China

(not the best writing but one of the most amazing stories, I couldn't put it down)

2. Mark Labberton's, The Dangerous Act of Worship, given to me this fall by my brother.

Here's some quotes:

"so what's the problem? The church is asleep. Not dead. Not necessarily having trouble breathing. But asleep. This puts everything that matters at stake: God's purposes in the church and in the world."

... and we are "running the risk of investing astonishing energy in breeding and nurturing a yet more excellent sleep.

... many of our programs and privileges "can shroud the gospel in such middle- and upper-class consumer-oriented style and content that salvation subtly becomes more about providing a warm blanket of cultural safety than about stepping out into the bracing winds of spiritual sacrifice."