BEYOND KNOWLEDGE TO KNOWING

I remember going down to the beach during a storm and trying to imagine what it was like to experience that as one who didn’t know what I know about storms.  What would I think about looking at the huge and angry waves that had been calm the day before; looking at the dark clouds moving quickly across the sky that had been bright blue and filled with light the day before?  What would I think about the water pouring down on me and the lightening streaking down from above; what would I think about the wind that was blowing so hard it almost knocked me down to the ground?  Eventually I just stopped thinking and simply let myself go into all of it and experienced the life and energy that I was totally immersed in.  I didn’t have to know what, where, or how; I just enjoyed looking at it and being a part of it all.  I went beyond inquisition into inclusion.  I went beyond inquiry into inspiration.  I walked home filled with life and in awe; silent and at peace.

I remember my high school biology class, sitting at the lab table with a dead frog before me.  We were going to learn about the frog by dissecting it piece by piece and observing what made frogs do what frogs do and are.  After we completed the assignment, drew our diagrams, and wrote our responses to the teacher’s questions, we cleaned up the mess and went to our next class.  At the end of the day I walked home and stopped by the pond where I spent many days and hours playing with frogs.  I used to pick them up and talk with them, eye to eye; my friends and I had frog jumping contests with them; sometimes in the evening I would sit and listen to them talk with one another across the pond.  Today as I sat there I wondered why my teacher would think that the way to know a frog was to kill it and cut it all to pieces.  I knew the frogs much better by simply being with them, playing with them, and listening to them talk with one another across the pond.

I remember my times in Bible College, Seminary, and Church reading and listening to all the teachings about God, doctrine, and theology.  I participated in the arguments and learned about all the arguments and debates that had gone on throughout history.  I heard about all the rules and regulations to properly know God and what was the right and wrong way to think about God, the Bible, the Church, and all the Religions in the world.

My hands were full of books and my head was full of information.  But my heart felt empty.  At the end of the day I would go home and simply sit and remember the times I stood on the beach during a storm or sat on the banks of the pond and played with the frogs.  I remember the early hours of the morning when I sit with God in silence and read from my Bible, hearing His words spoken to me through its pages, filling my heart with His Presence.  I go beyond knowledge to knowing.  I enjoy that time and always leave filled with life, awe, and peace.