Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Skye Jethani (www.skyejethani.com) is the managing editor of Leadership journal, a magazine and online resource published by Christianity Today International. He also serves as a teaching pastor at Blanchard Alliance Church in Wheaton, Illinois.

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with

Thomas Nelson

Contents

1 Life After Eden......................................12 Life Under God.......................................233 Life Over God........................................414 Life From God........................................615 Life For God.........................................776 Life With God........................................977 Life With Faith......................................1178 Life With Hope.......................................1359 Life With Love.......................................157Appendix A Communing With God.........................175Appendix B Discussing With Others.....................187Notes..................................................195Acknowledgments........................................205About the Author.......................................207

Chapter One

The Shadows

Fifteen hundred years ago, the emperor of Rome built a tomb for his beloved sister. The small building was designed in the shape of a cross with a vaulted ceiling covered with mosaics of swirling stars in an indigo sky. The focal point of the mosaic ceiling was a depiction of Jesus the Good Shepherd surrounded by sheep in an emerald paradise.

The mausoleum of Galla Placidia still stands in Ravenna, Italy, and has been called by scholars "the earliest and best preserved of all mosaic monuments" and one of the "most artistically perfect." But visitors who have admired its mosaics in travel books and on postcards will be disappointed when they enter the mausoleum. The structure has only tiny windows, and what light does enter is usually blocked by a mass of tourists. The "most artistically perfect" mosaic monument, the inspiring vision of the Good Shepherd in a starry paradise, is hidden behind a veil of darkness.

But the impatient who leave the chapel will miss a stunning unveiling. With no advance notice, spotlights near the ceiling are turned on when a tourist finally manages to drop a coin into the small metal box along the wall. The lights illuminate the iridescent tiles of the mosaic but only for a few seconds. One visitor described the experience: "The lights come on. For a brief moment, the briefest of moments—the eye doesn't have time to take it all in, the eye casts about—the dull, hot darkness overhead becomes a starry sky, a dark-blue cupola with huge, shimmering stars that seem startlingly close. 'Ahhhhh!' comes the sound from below, and then the light goes out, and again there's darkness, darker even than before."

The bright burst of illumination is repeated over and over again, divided by darkness of unpredictable length. Each time the lights come on, the visitors are given another glimpse of the world behind the shadows, and their eyes capture another element previously unseen—deer drinking from springs, garlands of fruit and leaves, Jesus gently reaching out to his sheep that look lovingly at their Shepherd. After seeing the mosaic, one visitor wrote: "I have never seen anything so sublime in my life! Makes you want to cry!"

Like the tourists in Ravenna, many come into Christian faith with great expectations. They have heard stories of jubilation and salvation, of the power to overcome this world and experience the divine in inexpressible ways. But once inside the ancient halls of Christianity many are disappointed. Where is the light, where is the illumination? Our hearts seek God and the goodness, beauty, justice, and peace we've been told he provides, but he often remains hidden behind the shadow cast by an evil world.

My concern is that we are inoculating an entire generation to the Christian faith. Many come with a holy desire to know God, to experience his presence in their lives, to be cared for like sheep entrusted to a meek and gentle shepherd. But this is not what they see or experience. In fact, they may leave the church without ever seeing a beautiful and enthralling vision of LIFE WITH God. The lights are never turned on to reveal the beauty that is present just behind the shadows. Instead they are offered a substitute form of Christianity, one that cannot break through the shadows and that never really satisfies the deepest longings of their souls.

When their experience of faith leaves them disappointed, they may falsely conclude that Christianity has failed. In reality, to quote G. K. Chesterton, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." Or perhaps it might be more accurately said of our time that Christianity has not been presented and therefore has been left untried. The result is a generation disaffected and inoculated to the true Christian message.

But there are moments, unexpected and undeserved, when a coin is dropped and our vision is transformed by a bright burst of light. It may only be a brief glimpse, but in those moments we see the world behind the shadows, we see an entirely different way of relating to God, and we long for more.

The Postures

Unfortunately a great many people have settled for a darker existence, one under a shadow in which they relate to God in a way that leaves them discontent. Consider the following examples of four people I encountered. All identified themselves as Christians, most had significant church backgrounds, but they each related to God in a different way.

* * *

I had not met Joel before he came to my office for what he called "spiritual advice." A middle-aged man with some success at business, Joel described himself as a Christian with a weakness for alcohol, women, and gambling—the latter being the reason for his visit. A bad run of bets was now jeopardizing his business.

"I'm sorry for your troubles, Joel," I said, "but I'm not sure why you've come to see me."

"I don't go to church," Joel said, "but I know what's right and wrong. I'm concerned that God isn't going to bless my business because of what I've done. I want to make things right with him. I can't afford to have my partners and God against me."

* * *

Mark was a very well-read man. He devoured every business leadership book he could find, but he wasn't a business leader. Mark was a pastor. We met at a ministry conference and shared lunch together.

"The problem with most pastors," Mark began, "is that they think they're immune to market forces. They don't understand the basic principles on which every organization rises or falls. They just don't teach that stuff in seminary.

"I can't stand all the spiritualizing that goes on at these ministry conferences. We're just coming up with excuses for being bad leaders—for not doing more. Do you think the managers of Walmart sit around and contemplate? Why do people expect us to sit around and pray all the time? I'm not going to let my church atrophy like so many others."

* * *

Rebecca was a senior at a respected Christian college. With graduation just months away, she was wrestling with what she would do next.

"I've always dreamed of going to medical school," she said. "And I've got the grades to probably get in, but I'm just not sure I should do it."

"Why not?" I asked. "What's holding you back?"

"I'm not sure that's what God wants me to do. I mean, does the world really need another cardiologist? I want...