RubberDucky
New Member
Just a thought that crossed my mind, hope the text doesn't cross your eyes.
"Eat my dust!" How many of us have confidently issued this command to an opponent in a race? I know that I have. Yet as I think of this idea of eating dust, I can't help but think about what makes dust dust, instead of just dirt. When we think of dust, it's dirt particles that have been disturbed and are floating in the air until they settle back in to dirt. So for someone to "eat our dust" they must be close. This reminds me of an old Jewish blessing to the follower of a Rabbi "May your robes be covered in the dust of your Rabbi." That student had to be as close as our competitor to be eating the dust, but in this case it was a good dust that youth was eating. He was following so closely to his teacher that the ground had not enough time to recover from the Rabbi's steps. I can only wonder how many flat tires Rabbis had as a result of students wanting to fulfill that phrase. And now that I have said Rabbi five times, let me say ones name. Jesus. He was often called that (among many things) and while we should view Him as more than just a teacher, the relevance of the aforementioned phrase cannot be ignored. In basketball one stays very close to the player they are supposed to cover so that they can quickly respond to his moves and not be lost or shaken. Should we not be the same way with Jesus? One doesn't follow an amazing event or person from a distance, you miss stuff, the adventure and experience is being there in the middle of it and watching it all with rapt attention that cannot be divided. A sign at Camp Caraway's obstacle course says "Obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off the goal." When I was a kid all that I knew was what I wanted to do, not what it would take or what would prevent it from happening, I was focused on the goal. When Peter was walking on water the bible says Matthew 14:30 "But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, 'Lord, Save me!'" Peter would rather swallow his pride than water, but when he was swallowing the mist (no dust on a lake) of Jesus he didn't notice the obstacles. When his eyes were on the goal, the obstacles were a non issue. I'm sure that with a person fallowing so closely behind someone else if the follower looked away even for a moment they would go from eating airy dust to gritty dirt. So I suppose I don't know what my goal with typing this was, but I won't stop until I have nothing left to say. I know that if we fall while following Jesus He will with no doubt offer His hand to help us up, but we still have the taste of dirt to get over and to brush off us. So the best way to keep only a light coat of dirt on our teeth is to follow Jesus with indivisible attention, when He turns we turn, when He stops we stop. I suppose with Christ the safest thing to do is tailgate Him. So the final thing is, am I eating dust, or dirt? Am I His shadows shadow, or is He a fading figure being eaten by the horizon? If you can uncross your eyes and bear to read one more line, thanks for paying this much attention to my babbling.
Joey.
"Eat my dust!" How many of us have confidently issued this command to an opponent in a race? I know that I have. Yet as I think of this idea of eating dust, I can't help but think about what makes dust dust, instead of just dirt. When we think of dust, it's dirt particles that have been disturbed and are floating in the air until they settle back in to dirt. So for someone to "eat our dust" they must be close. This reminds me of an old Jewish blessing to the follower of a Rabbi "May your robes be covered in the dust of your Rabbi." That student had to be as close as our competitor to be eating the dust, but in this case it was a good dust that youth was eating. He was following so closely to his teacher that the ground had not enough time to recover from the Rabbi's steps. I can only wonder how many flat tires Rabbis had as a result of students wanting to fulfill that phrase. And now that I have said Rabbi five times, let me say ones name. Jesus. He was often called that (among many things) and while we should view Him as more than just a teacher, the relevance of the aforementioned phrase cannot be ignored. In basketball one stays very close to the player they are supposed to cover so that they can quickly respond to his moves and not be lost or shaken. Should we not be the same way with Jesus? One doesn't follow an amazing event or person from a distance, you miss stuff, the adventure and experience is being there in the middle of it and watching it all with rapt attention that cannot be divided. A sign at Camp Caraway's obstacle course says "Obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off the goal." When I was a kid all that I knew was what I wanted to do, not what it would take or what would prevent it from happening, I was focused on the goal. When Peter was walking on water the bible says Matthew 14:30 "But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, 'Lord, Save me!'" Peter would rather swallow his pride than water, but when he was swallowing the mist (no dust on a lake) of Jesus he didn't notice the obstacles. When his eyes were on the goal, the obstacles were a non issue. I'm sure that with a person fallowing so closely behind someone else if the follower looked away even for a moment they would go from eating airy dust to gritty dirt. So I suppose I don't know what my goal with typing this was, but I won't stop until I have nothing left to say. I know that if we fall while following Jesus He will with no doubt offer His hand to help us up, but we still have the taste of dirt to get over and to brush off us. So the best way to keep only a light coat of dirt on our teeth is to follow Jesus with indivisible attention, when He turns we turn, when He stops we stop. I suppose with Christ the safest thing to do is tailgate Him. So the final thing is, am I eating dust, or dirt? Am I His shadows shadow, or is He a fading figure being eaten by the horizon? If you can uncross your eyes and bear to read one more line, thanks for paying this much attention to my babbling.
Joey.
