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'ELECTRICITY'
(circa 2007)
“Shocking. Positively shocking.”
-James Bond, ‘Goldfinger’
Has something ever just completely surprised you? Has something ever just blown your mind, or scared you so badly, it sent tiny electric shivers up your spine? Have you ever been in a situation where you could actually feel the liquid adrenaline rushing through your body when something happened or someone says something?
It’s happened to all of us, I think. When I was in 7th grade, I had a Geography teacher named Doug Johnson. Mr. Johnson was a big guy. I mean, a really big guy. Tall, wide, and he looked like he could rip your head off if he wanted to. Mr. Johnson was not a nice man, either. He was constantly screaming, yelling, beating on desks, stomping around his room, and just making us dread 4th period.
One day, he went too far. He started yelling at this poor girl in class. Really loudly. It was clearly upsetting everyone in the classroom. People were crying, and he continued on his rampage.
I’m a diabetic, you see, and when something gets really stressful, my blood sugar spikes. Well, Mr. Johnson was yelling and screaming and cursing and whatnot, and my blood sugar shot way up. I was in such pain, that I doubled over onto the desk, crying. Mr. Johnson was still busy screaming at the girl in the classroom for not putting her name on her paper or something, One of the students sitting next to me stood up, and started yelling at Mr. Johnson himself.
“Look what’s happening to Matt!” he yelled. Mr. Johnson looked over, and saw me shaking and crying. He walked over, and asked if I was alright and if I wanted to go to the nurse’s office. He put his hand on my should, and I jolted upwards, and yelled ‘DON’T TOUCH ME!’
He backed off, knowing that he had made me go into a diabetic shock. Now, I sounded angry at him, and I was, but the words just came out - I didn’t want this man, who’d put me in so much pain and had been making me miserable for the past year touching me.
I stood up, and two friends of mine came and put their arms around me, and walked with me up to the clinic.
Only those who were in the classroom knew why I had gotten sick. I never told anyone else, for some reason. Not even my parents.
But, anyway, all the happened on a Friday. When Monday rolled around, I was walking down the hallway to one of my classes… and then, turning around the corner, was the towering Mr. Johnson.
That’s precisely when I felt like I was going to faint. I felt the electric currents rushing up my spine; I felt the shivers on my arms, and I felt like I had just eaten a 9-volt battery.
He stared at me, and I stared at him. He smiled like we were good friends or something. The sparks of fear and anger starting shooting through me.
“Hey, Walker,” he said. “How’re you doing?”
I just looked at him. “Fine,” I said, “Better then Friday.”
“That’s good,” he said, walking away.
But, even as I tell that story, the one thing I remember most and most vividly is that feeling I had when I saw him on the following Monday. It was so intense, and just nerve-wrecking.
Like, I said, we’ve all felt it. Maybe not in the midst of fear, but maybe in awe of something.
About a month ago, I went with my Mom, my sisters, and their children down to Savannah, Georgia to spend the week. I love Savannah. It’s so beautiful down there. There’s a particularly amazing building on E Harris St known as the St. John Cathedral. This building is the oldest Catholic church in the Savannah area, and built back when America was being settled.
When we walked in, all of us were speechless. You didn’t have to be Catholic to be blown away by all of this building’s awe and just raw splendor. Again, I felt those electrical shocks radiate up my back and into my neck. I felt my blood rush all around my body - warm and tingly. The sheer size of the building was enough to make your eyes widen, but the architecture, and the paintings, and the organs, and the pews - wow, it was amazing.
But, again, when I tell that story, the one thing I remember most is feeling those butterflies and that electricity when I walked through those huge, heavy wooden oak doors.
What are some times you’ve felt that burst of electricity or that rush of adrenaline? When we feel that, we know what it means - we’ve either really afraid of something, or we are in total awe of something.
Now, here’s a tougher question. How do you feel about God? Do you tremble in fear and in awe when you think about him? Do you have more of an adrenaline when you beat that really tough level on your Xbox game, or when you pray and read the bible? Do you feel more of those butterflies when you see that amazing cute boy or girl in the lunch line, or when you sit down, and just think about God.
Go ahead and do that. Think about God.
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If we were to ever fathom what God looks like or who he really is, we would just die. In Exodus, we see God saying ‘But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"‘#
Wow. Could you ever imagine trying to stare down something so awesome or so terrifying that, simply by looking at it, you just died? Something so huge, so wonderful, so glorious, so immaculate, so amazing, so holy, so awesome that you would just fall over and die? Think about that!
I went with my Church’s youth group to a conference recently called ‘LiveLove,’ and the speaker, Francis Chan, talked about the sheer awe-inspiring look of God himself.
He showed us where, in Revelation, John described the vision the Lord had given him of God the best he could.
Revelation 4:2-8
(2) Instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven with a person seated on the throne.
(3) The person sitting there looked like jasper and carnelian, and there was a rainbow around the throne that looked like an emerald.
(4) Around the throne were 24 other thrones, and on these thrones sat 24 elders wearing white robes and gold victor's crowns on their heads.
(5) Flashes of lightning, noises, and peals of thunder came from the throne. Burning in front of the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God. (6) In front of the throne was something like a sea of glass as clear as crystal. In the center of the throne and on each side of the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
(7) The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like an ox, the third living creature had a face like a human, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
(8) Each of the four living creatures had six wings and were full of eyes inside and out. Without stopping day or night they were saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming."
Can you even imagine that!? At all!? I had never read that until Mr. Francis Chan pointed out that verse to us at the conference. It all really make you shiver and shake doesn’t’ it?
The creatures with the billions of eyeballs all over it’s body, that looks like a lion, probably roaring and pouncing around - it’s it just too much to think about? Even still after that, THOSE four creatures, as awesome and freaky as they are, are STILL in awe over the one who is holier, and sits on the throne that lightning, fire, thunder, and just sheer light radiates from. They cry ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming.’ Can you even imagine?
If you’re not getting those intense, spine-chilling tremors yet, maybe this will shock you a bit. That intense, holy, glowing being on the grandest throne of all; as huge and glorious as he is, loves you.
He loves you as his child. He loves you and wants to know you. Can you even imagine? At all? The One who spoke the Universe into existence with his wisdom and power, loves you. So much so, he sent his only son to suffer the worst death imaginable to die in our place. His own son. The cross. The blood. The crowds shouting ‘CRUCIFY HIM!!!’ The pain. The suffering. The death. Then, finally, his resurrection.
If that doesn’t give you the electric shivers all throughout your body, then nothing will. The one in Revelation, the one that shines like priceless gemstones, that sits upon a throne of thunder and lightning, with pillars of fire surrounding him, the one that if we to so much as glance into his face as mortal human beings, we’d die… that very one loves you enough to get off of his throne, come down to the Earth he created, suffered, bled, faced intense humiliation, and died for you. For you. For you. Get that concept - ‘For you.’ Personally. For you.
Why do you deserve it at all? Why do I deserve it at all? There is absolutely no reason why he should ever love us at all. He built this beautiful planet for us, and we break the rules he’s given us, blaspheme his name, and completely disregard him sometimes. But the cool, awesome, super, magnificent thing is HE DOES! He LOVE US. I’m actually crying as I type this, because I finally understand! I finally get what I thought I understood for years, but now, I finally get it! There is no greater feeling ever. None at all.
I hope you think about that the next time you pray or tell others about God. Think about who he is, what he’s done, and how humbly he did it all… for you.
I’m going the say ‘The End’ right here, and I hope you enjoyed reading this spur-of-the-moment four-page thing I felt I had to get down on paper somehow. First, though, I want to tell you to go read Romans 8:12-18 for yourself to see an awesome example of how much he loves you.
Prepare for the electricity.
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I love the random James Bond quote at the beginning that just barely alludes to the rest of the post, haha. Although I've grown a LOT in my faith, I still believe that a lot of what I wrote there still rings true. I wish I had gone on more about God's love for us in the here and now, but I think that that speaks for itself.
Hope you enjoyed a little blast from the past!
-Matt
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