By Seth Barnes

From India:

Grace came to me unexpectedly today.

We’d been accosted by beggars everywhere we went in Hyderabad. You want to help the needy ones, but giving to beggars can be complicated.Anyone who saw Slumdog Millionaire understands how it can be a racket.And so, you pray for discernment and you pray for grace.

But your spirit can feel bruised by it all. Today was a long day and we were ready for a safe place on the eve of our departure from India. And then, walking to our last meeting, I heard behind me, “Sir,sir!”

I recoiled inside, guard up, seeing a small woman beckoning me and wondering how to fend her off.

“Sir, I have cancer. Mommy, daddy dead. I need to catch train. Help me.”

“Right,” I thought. There was no grace in me.

But I listened as she shared more details of her plight. And I asked her to come to where we could talk inside our building. I promised to help somehow. She agreed to walk with us.

Once inside, I got Raju to translate so she could speak in Hindi.She was skin and bones. She showed us a big lump on her neck – an enlarged thyroid. She showed us her deformed arm. She showed us her medical records.

“I think she is telling you the truth,” said Raju.

“What is your name?” I asked.

“It is Grace,” she answered.

We gathered some of the nearby racers and Noe prayed a powerful prayer. He declared, “Grace, God says you are beautiful! You are beautiful.” She was crying. You could feel God’s presence. And a wave of emotion hit me.

We sent her away with money for the train and for medicines and with hugs. And if she found grace through us in that short interaction,after a day of searching for it, we found that grace has a pronoun. I’ve thought and even blogged before about grace – but about grace as an abstraction.

Tonight, she took on human form and kissed our spirits. She walked away in the night, but her spirit lingered with us.

Seth is the executive director of Adventures In Missions, an organization that sends people on short-term mission trips around the world. He lives in Gainesville, GA with his wife Karen. You can visit his blog “Radical Living in a Comfortable World” at sethbarnes.com.

By Laura Jacobs

From Kenya:

“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income, this also is vanity.”

-Ecclesiastes 5:10

As we have walked around Kibera, sharing the Gospel and encouraging the believers, we’ve run into one central problem – money. No one has enough; everyone needs more. Unfortunately, our white skin sticks out and screams wealth to the people of Kibera. We’ve become beggar magnets.

And to a certain extent, it’s true. My old lifestyle was probably double or triple the price of the lifestyle around here. My old lifestyle was incredibly extravagant in comparison. I can understand why these people come to us.

I have never lived under a roof that leaked when it rained. I have never gone without a meal because I couldn’t afford anything to eat. I have never chosen my toy from a pile of garbage. I am well provided for, thanks to wonderful family and friends whom God regularly provides through. I have never known true want like we live among here.

But I have learned something here. You don’t have to “know want” like Kibera to have money problems. We went to a wealthier (as compared to Kibera), westernized church today and heard a sermon all about money. Even the people of this church…. who all have houses, electricty, running water… all their needs and wants… aren’t satisfied. They are spending weeks and weeks learning how to earn money, save money, and increase their wealth.

So whether you are an unemployed single mother in Kibera or a wealthy land owner in Nairobi the theme song remains the same… Never satisfied…

And in comparison what does God offer? What is my response to this? What do I do with the beggar on the street and the rich man in church? God has the same message for all:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” -Isaiah 55:1-3

Is this a promise of God to provide wealth for all those who accept Him? What is rich food? What is this nourishment that causes the soul to live?

It’s the message of Christ. Christ came among the poor and the destitute. Christ came among the rich and the affluent. And He came with one message: “You need Me.”

That has to be my message, too. I can provide a loaf of bread that will last a few meals or I can provide the bread of life which lasts through eternity. By God’s grace sometimes I can provide both. But the latter definitely carries the weight of importance.

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’.” -Hebrews 13:5

That’s the key right there. That’s the message: He’s alive; He’s here. And He wants to be with you forever. That’s my mission; that’s my message. And that’s my hope for all eternity.

When I stare real poverty in the face, knowing that my feeble efforts may barely make a dent in the real problem, that message gives me hope. And that hope is easily shared. That is the “rich food” that can sustain any family much longer than a loaf of bread. That is true “sustenance”. That’s why I’m here.

Laura is from Abilene, TX. She went on the World Race in 2006 and now works for Adventures in Missions. This story is from her travels around the world. Follow her blog to read more.

By Jason Wert

Autism in the church is an invisible problem that is alienating families all over the country.

The 7-year-old boy danced around at the front of the room as the worship team played a song.  His parents made multiple attempts to corral him but to the child he was just fitting in.  After all, the adults were singing loud, waving their arms and swaying.  This was how he waved his hands and swayed to the Spirit in the room. 

The adults didn’t see the worship that was happening.  They looked at the child with obvious irritation.  They looked at the parents with raised eyebrows silently asking why they don’t get their child under control.  (As if the parents haven’t been trying to keep him acting in the manner that people want children to act in a church service when child care isn’t being provided.) 

With every giggle, every whisper to his parents that was a little louder than a whisper, every fidget in his seat the irritation of those around him seemed to exponentially grow.  People would move away from the child and his family.  The family was made to feel more and more unwelcome.

The child wasn’t just being disobedient.  The parents weren’t just slacking in their duties. 

The child had autism.

Every Sunday in churches all across the USA, families with autistic children are pushed to the side and made to feel unwelcome because most churches just aren’t ready to deal with these children.  It’s not just autism either: families who have children with special needs ranging from MS to Down Syndrome to cerebral palsy find themselves being pushed to the perimeter of the “church family” until they quietly leave on their own.

Every Sunday there are thousands of families who would love to spend time worshipping God with other followers of Christ who feel they have no place to go because they are not made to feel welcome simply because the child God gave them doesn’t fit the “normal” societal template for a child.   

The church will tell them that they’re not equipped to handle a child with special needs.  They’ll tell the parents that their child is “too much of a disruption for the other children.”  If the family is invited to stay they’ll be asked to sit in the children’s area with their child to “help them.” 

How does that help the parents grow in their relationship with God or other believers?  They can take care of their child at home without the dirty looks that will inevitably be given to them by others who don’t understand the struggles of a child with special needs.  And those dirty looks, snide comments and cold shoulders are very noticeable to the parents of those children.

The problem goes a lot deeper than just the church hierarchy that is usually not prepared when a family with a special needs child walks in their door.  There’s a profound lack of understanding and support from the Christian community as a whole.  Our worship time is seen almost in a selfish manner by so many of us.  We like to sit in certain spots.  We like to hear certain songs.  We get very irritated if something throws off our experience like a child who doesn’t act like the perfect angel.  Instead of taking that moment to show the grace of God that we’re claiming to seek ourselves in the worship service we allow anger to be our guide.

And I’m not talking the child who’s screaming and yelling and making an obvious huge disruption.  I’m talking the child who just rocks back and forth in the pew.  The one that dances during the worship time as he’s made to stand up like everyone else.  LITTLE things that can be such a huge sore spot for so many people that they’ll condemn and exclude the families of those children. 

Would Jesus really turn away the family of the special needs child?

Do you think He wants us doing that?

Yet it happens every Sunday.

How do I know these things happen?  Because I have a son with autism.  And I’ve experienced some of it.  I’ve been involved with other families who have special needs children who have dealt with some of the things I’ve mentioned.  The families who are told it’s unreasonable for them to expect the church to help with their child so the adults can have even an hour of interaction with other adults to worship God.  The families who are told if they want the church to be able to care for special needs children then those parents need to start and run the program. 

The families who are made to feel it’s somehow their fault their child was born in a way other than “normal.”

There are some churches that are doing wonderfully when it comes to helping the families of children with special needs.  Our family has been tremendously blessed by finding one.  We’ve tried to invite other special needs families to attend but have had our hearts broken many times when they say “we simply don’t want to put our family through it again.”

So if you’re a church leader, I ask you:  what would happen if a family with a special needs child walked through your door?  If you’re just a Christ-follower not in leadership, I ask you: how would you react to the child who is acting a little differently than the other little boys and girls? 

Jason has been blessed with great trials that have refined him through fire both figuratively and once literally.  He’s had his faith stretched to the breaking point and has seen God come through in amazing ways that he’s now sharing through his website and the upcoming Mustard Seed Year. A former 20-year veteran radio broadcaster, Jason now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his family where he focuses on writing and speaking.

By Jeff Goins, Editor

Is Jesus “the Way, the Truth and the Life” as we often hear in church? Really? How?

In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (NIV) While this is an oft-quoted verse about the theological exclusivity of Christ, I want to explore a deeper, often missed meaning.

If we Christians believe these statements to be true, then how are we living as if they are true?

That is, if this man called Jesus — whom we believe to be the Son of God — is, in fact, the way and the truth and life, wouldn’t that have an impact on we lived every minute of every day of our lives, including how we processed ideas and truth claims, how we treated other people, and how we interacted with God? Let’s explore that for a moment.

If the above scripture is true, and I believe it is, then Jesus represents all the essential fulfillment needs in life that we are searching for: a place to belong, something true to cling to, and a purpose to live for. What more do we need than those?

Jesus as the Way

I admit that I have, at times, missed Jesus. Like a traveler without a map, I thought that I was able to navigate through life on my own, without a guide. I believed in God and felt that I was generally a good person; therefore, I believed that I was on the right path, forging my own destiny, my own way to purpose in life. From a religious standpoint, I believed that Jesus had, more or less, shown me the way and was telling me to walk in it. For the most part, however, I just had a long list of stuff I couldn’t do.

Regardless, I never imagined a God who would walk the hard paths of life with me.

But Jesus didn’t come to merely show us the way, as we sing in the popular. Rather, he came to be the way. That distinction can fundamentally change how we live our lives.

Jesus as the Truth

Jesus didn’t come to teach us the truth. He is the truth. Right doctrine isn’t propositional, as Len Sweet might say. It’s relational. Truth is not an idea or an essence; according to the Bible, it’s a Person.

As such, that means we can interact with Truth in an organic way; it is not a series of points that we simply assent to, but something that has substance and personality and even a voice.

Jesus as the Life

This idea is particularly prevalent in evangelical circles: that the statement, “Jesus is the life,” means that we get a free ticket through the pearly gates. When someone decides to follow Christ, he gets a lot more than heaven as his reward. Sure, we get eternal life, but that begins now, not when we die and not in a thousand years. Right now.

If we’re seeking to know the God of the Bible, then we are compelled to believe Jesus for what he says — that he is our very life. Not just a fire insurance policy or a far-off and distant reward. That means (unfortunately, for some of us) that following Jesus should make a difference not just after we die, but each day of our lives before we die.

The implications of these differences, if we take them seriously, could be revolutionary in our faith. Either Christ is our example for good behavior, or he is the very road we walk. Either he taught a series of philosophical precepts that we memorize and make intellectual assent to, or he is the very truth we comprehend. And either he is our prayer into the good life when we die, or he is himself the life we are longing to live in the here and now.

For those seeking to follow Jesus and struggling with these concepts, I propose a more personal approach. Try repeating this phrase next time you read the above text: “Christ is my way, my truth, and my life.”

What does it mean for you that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life?

By Jeff Goins, Editor

In 1998, Billy Graham delivered this fascinating and compelling TED Talk about technology and faith.

This is not the first technological revolution, Graham says. Technology has helped and aided humanity in many ways, but it will never be able to solve some of humanity’s greatest moral dilemmas: particularly, the problems of human evil, suffering, and death.

That wars and poverty rage on in a world where the most advanced technology exists is a painful reminder of the limits of technology and human achievement. Moreover, Rev. Graham notes, we are all going to die.

The length of our lives may be extended by technology, but we will still eventually meet the grave. “The moment when it is terrible to feel regret is when one is dying,” he quotes Solzhenitsyn.

Listening to this talk for me was, admittedly, a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect Billy Graham to be so deep and intellectual. I know have a much better understanding and appreciation for why he is on the world’s most sought-after speakers (not just as a preacher, either). Graham’s delivery in the Ted Talk is both powerful and compelling.

Enjoy the video and share your own thoughts:

What are some other limits of technology?

Jeff graduated from Illinois College, a small liberal arts school, with a degree in Spanish and Religion. He lives in Nashville, TN with his wife Ashley. He works for Adventures in Missions, edits this silly little magazine, and loves to do new things. Check out his blog: Pilgrimage of the Heart.

By Jeff Goins, Editor

Movies often talk about the “magic” of Christmas, and I am beginning to rediscover the wonder of this time of year. It’s all about anticipation. About the good things of God that have been promised to us. About hope and restoration. About change and the coming of better things. It is a season in which we believe anything is possible — particularly that discouraging circumstances can, in fact, be redeemed.

Ultimately, this is a season about receiving “gifts” — but not in the wrapping paper and ribbons sense of the word. Like George Bailey, we are reminded of the fact that we all have opportunities to live “a wonderful life” if we stop and take a moment to appreciate the relationships we have. 

We evangelicals don’t do a very good job of celebrating Advent, a practice of preparation for Christmas that many mainline Protestants and Catholics have been doing for quite some time now. I never really celebrated this time of the year (other than blowing lots of money on gifts). I never took time to think about the coming of the Christ child into the world and the significance of it. I never really prepared my heart for Christmas. That is, not until a few years ago.

A few things happened when I first moved to Nashville in 2006.

First, I joined a church — a small fellowship of people who were committed to each other and to God, in both big and small ways. I needed that after spending the previous season without much a church home or family. It just so happened that this church celebrated Advent, a practice to which I was not accustomed. In fact, shortly after my beginning to attend Franklin Fellowship, we started lighting candles and reading prayers and scriptures out loud together. While that’s the norm for many Christians around the world every Sunday, it was new and interesting and slightly uncomfortable for me.

Second, I started spending time with the homeless. Now, I will just tell you: if you want your whole notion of Christmas to get messed up, spend your December with people who have virtually nothing. It will open your eyes to all kinds of issues of materialism and self-centeredness and just plain greed (most of which, by the way, is in just you). I guarantee that it will humble your heart and increase your gratitude, come Christmas morning.

As I began to learn more about this season of preparation and meditation, I realized that Christmas is shallow without Advent. And I began to understand that the best way for me to reflect on the birth of Christ in a meaningful way was through intentional meditation and service.

Four years ago, I spent Christmastime with a community of homeless men and women who lived underneath a bridge. My friend Paul and I brought them blankets and clothes and candy canes (yes, even candy canes) from friends and coworkers who had donated them. The experience of growing to know and care for this community opened our eyes to a world neither of us had ever seen before and brought significance to a holiday that had, for the both of us, often run hollow.

Since that first Christmas in Music City, I’ve continued to find intentional ways to both be still and serve. The two, I’ve found, are essential if we are seeking to align our hearts with baby refugee born in a manger who would one day wander as a homeless man and be executed as a criminal.

Recently, I’ve fallen more in love with the liturgical calendar, growing to relish the respective seasons of waiting, death, and rebirth throughout the year. I love that Lent and Advent represent more than a moment, that they speak to the journey of life. One website put it this way:

Christmas is not meant to be an isolated day, but a festival of the Incarnation in the midst of the Church year. Christmas is only properly understood after having the preparation provided by Advent. In the midst of the secular excesses leading up to Christmas, Advent provides a welcome solace and an opportunity to continually re-orient ourselves to God’s will as we expectantly wait with patriarchs, prophets, and kings for the true meaning of Christmas: the Incarnation of God the Son. 

As we near Christmas, I’m reminded of what a gift this season of waiting truly is. As someone who used to celebrate December 25, often placing impossible expectations on one day and then being disappointed with it, I have learned to embrace this entire season of coming. It’s not just an arrival, I’ve found, that makes Christmas special; rather, it is the journey itself.

Without Christmas, Advent would be meaningless.  Without a destination, we would never embark on a journey in the first place. The final arrival gives value and meaning to the trip. But without Advent, Christmas would be superficial and hollow. (This is the revelation that is really striking me these days.)

In United States, we know this all too well. We are inundated with shopping sprees and meaningless festivities that are quite hard to connect with the biblical account of Christ’s birth. A day like Christmas holds little meaning for us anymore, and some are forced to invent traditions to recapture some of the mystery of the season. We have focused on the destination, while neglecting the journey.

We need both Advent and Christmas. Together. The two are kissing cousins. Both are essential to understanding the coming of the Christ child into the world and the significance of it to us. Each needs the other, and we need both of them. However, I’m convinced that many of us need to recapture the importance of taking a spiritual journey more than just relishing in the act of arriving through the observance of a moment.

What do you think about Advent? How do you prepare for Christmas?

*Photo appears courtesy of Malene Thyssen.

By Zach Hunter

Christmas time.

Every year, for a short period of time, our inner child is given permission to come out of their room. This time of year, the lights are brighter, and the fragrances call up memories deeply imprinted in our hearts. This time of year, our yards are Hallmark cards, and our love is a black-and-white movie.

Jesus is born and a Child is King.  

Some of the most likable and fascinating people I know are those that have retained this sense of childlike wonder beyond the season.

In our educational system and in our churches, this sense of wonder seems to be starched, ironed, and conjugated right out of us. The wonder of God inventing light, matter, water, and companionship becomes a “story.”

The brilliance of a sunset, the “bigness” of things, the vastness of space and the need to see every side of something, to take it all apart; is left in exchange for “growing up.”

I’m not saying that maturity is not something to be reached and earned, only that wonder is almost as rare as seeing a man take responsibility for his actions. Some of the best and most-loved entertainers and businesspeople have been people that stayed in touch with their “inner child.”

This Christmas can be a time when you reconnect with your own innocence and creativity: an act of worship where we take our place in the Universe under the guiding hand of a massive Creator who stuffed his greatness into human form as a baby to demonstrate his love for us.

Where wonder is alive and a Child is King.

The impossible is realized. Wonder is alive.

By Ginger Larson

The way they grab for food with their grubby hands, dirt under their fingernails, it aggravates me.

I was squeezing a package of black refried beans into the pan -  kind of like how one rolls up the tube of toothpaste to ensure every ounce is used.

Pleased with my thorough squeezing technique, I tossed it toward the trashcan. Josue intercepted it. He motioned if he could have it. I shrugged. Really, could he get much more out of it? If he could just wait a little longer he was going to get a huge plate full.

Later that afternoon, I saw the black bean package again. It had been forgotten, thrown to the ground outside. This time it was ripped to a flat sheet of plastic -  no longer a bag – licked clean.

I confess, I get angry when these boys grab at food in the kitchen, when they demand more food or juice. After making the menu for the week and the grocery list and accounting for just the right number of bananas, bread slices, pasta and rice, etc – I’m a bit of a little general in the kitchen.

The grocery store is at least an hour away. But then I have to remind myself that these aren’t normal teenage boys. “Don’t they trust me that I’ll give them a plate of food in just a minute?” Trust. They don’t know what trust is.

They usually don’t get food unless they dig for it – in the trash. They don’t know their father. Their mom used to be a prostitute and now is in and out with a boyfriend that lives in the dump. Their home has three walls. If they were to say they were hungry, who would they tell? If their mom was around, she’d probably tell them to go dig.I’ve never hungered like they have. They don’t have a mom or dad who plan well-balanced meals, make sure they brush their teeth, take a bath and wash behind their ears. The only shower they get is when they visit us at the farm, which is a slow, cold trickle.God showed me this week myself in the boys. I do the same thing those boys do. Not trust. Stock up because I don’t know when I’ll get a “taste of America” again or a reminder of home.

And beyond that… emotionally I do the same thing those boys do.  Their actions represent my jealousy. I envy a friend with a plan for his life or a friend who is getting married -  thinking that my God has forgotten me.

I’m jealous of a God-encounter that a teammate has or the way God speaks so clearly to someone, thinking that God is holding back on me. That He favors them more than me. I don’t trust that my God is good 100% of the time.

I worry about the future.

I’m acting like I don’t have a good Father who has a good plan for me, who loves me. I’m trying to write my own story, grab my own “food” -  often from the trash. He does know best. And He’s asking me, “don’t you trust me, I have something better for you. A big, well-balanced plate full.”The truth is God IS good 100% of the time. He hasn’t forgotten me. He isn’t out to rip me off. He has a plan for me. He isn’t ripping you off either, my friend. He has a good, good plan for you. Will we trust Him?Will we not hoard our food, our things for fear of what the future holds – or doesn’t hold? Will we not hoard happiness and good things to ourselves but instead trust that our God is a good, loving Father who gives good gifts at the perfect time?

He hasn’t forgotten us.

By Tiffany Berkowitz

From Cambodia:

Just as we were about to get up from the table and grab a tuk tuk home, I heard a small voice ask, “Buy my book?”

I’ve probably heard that almost as often as I’ve heard “Tuk Tuk? Moto?” this month. Which could be up to a hundred times a day, depending on how long I’m out in public.The deep red and dark orange lights in the restaurant were glowing dimly.I looked at his face and he smirked. He asked again, “Buy my book?”

I asked what his name was.

Ani.Ani is a wise-guy. First he was 12, then he was 17 born in ’93.I’m not sure why, but all of the children say that they are 12 whether they look 18 or 6.Telling a tourist that you were born in ’93 is also a common lie– because that makes them just above the illegal age for a child to be working. He told us that he works from 7am to midnight.I told him I did not want to buy his book to which he responded, “I’m very hungry.”It took at least eight minutes to convince him to sit and eat with us, mostly because there were four men watching him from outside the restaurant. They gawked in at Ani as he sat down reluctantly with four white strangers. He sat down, then he’d get up again, go outside, talk to one of the men, then come back inside and sit down. This probably happened at least 30 times from the moment I ordered him his favorite meal: Tom Yam Soup and a Coke, until the moment he finished eating.Our conversation was funny. He talked about his hungry family, about playing soccer, and about his work. He was very nervous, and we knew he was lying at least 90% of the time.I just wanted to know the truth.I wanted to know who those men were. I asked them, and they just walked away.I wanted to know who he worked for.I wanted to know what would happen if he didn’t sell any books.I wanted to know how old he really was, and if he really went to school.I wanted to know who those men worked for.I just wanted to know how it all worked.I didn’t want to hurt anyone or turn anyone in– but there was no way this kid was going to trust me or give me any accurate information.So we just enjoyed dinner.We laughed and he ate, and then he left.My life is full of moments like that. Moments where I am sitting at the same table as the injustices that my heart breaks for. Moments where I want to be able to love deeply and maybe even be a part of changing someone’s life… instead… we just sit there and laugh together.***When he left, a Swiss man, probably in his late 50′s leaned over from the table to our right and asked me, “Are you married?”I was baffled for a moment and then repeated his question, “Am I married?”"No, I don’t care if you’re married. Are you American?”"Oh!” I laughed with relief, “Yes, we are Americans.”He and a stunning Brazilian woman pulled up chairs and joined us for a while. They are on an amazing trip- going from Vienna to Brazil in a year. Their goal is to get there without ever having gotten on a plane. So far, they’ve experienced a lot. We talked about travel, culture, life, and love. We told them about encountering God’s love and how desperately we believe in the hope He has to offer to the world, but they didn’t have much to say about that. The conversation was rich and wonderful. They said one thing though that warmed my heart. They told us that there was “something different about us; that much was obvious.”We didn’t spout off the gospel to make sure they knew it was the “Jesus” in us. We didn’t have to rattle off scripture because we just… well, we were Jesus.No one was rescued from child trafficking. No one said the sinners prayer. But three people were loved. Just like Jesus loves them.You might not think that’s worth very much, and that’s fine. But I happen to think it’s the most important thing there is.“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.“-Mother Teresa

Tiffany is from California. She is currently on the World Race, ministering in 11 different countries in 11 months with Adventures In Missions. You can find out more about her here.

By Peter Bowes

There is nothing mysterious about the word “mystical.” Mystical means simply having an experience beyond the five senses. When you experience love, it is an example of a mystical experience. When you feel a presence within you when you pray or meditate, that is a mystical experience. The feeling you get when you open to a consciousness that is much deeper or higher than you are used to is a mystical experience.

A mystical experience changes you at the very core of your being. What you used to know and think has been replaced with something higher and more profound than you could think up with your mind.

When an emotional problem is healed in you or lifted from you, it is difficult to conceive of how that happens. Yet, many people have had the experience of not being troubled about a particular fear or condition any longer. The problem or illness just went away.

Others have felt a Cosmic presence of the Divine and have been moved to tears or released from a burden that is often unexplainable to the conscious mind. Experiences like this are what mystics experience every day. To the average observer, these experiences are extraordinary and rare.

But more and more people are reporting experiences similar to what the mystics of past times have written about.

The Christian mystics are dedicated to precisely these kinds of experiences that cannot be scientifically proven but are mystically known and understood. Their experiences of God within and other manifestations of the Divine Being, like light in and around the body, healings of various physical ailments and profound peace filling the heart and mind, are common and normal.

The experience of the Christ Consciousness has other names in different religious traditions. But they have the same transformative effect on the recipient in all cultures: joy, liberation from the constraints of the physical world, and profound love and peace filling the person and emanating out to others. Real spiritual experience brings true wisdom.

A Christian mystic is filled with the presence of Christ or, more universally, the love of God fills their soul and shines through their being. Most saints and sages regardless of their backgrounds are mystics. They have peered into the inner world in meditation, devotion and prayer and have had the experience of being embraced by the Being of God that resides within each person.

Whether a person believes in such things or not, the mystics see God within and know that everyone has this Divine center within them. It is not an opinion or a belief, as mystics are not that interested in such things. Real experience brings real transformation and complete change to a human being. This is why those who really know carry such a presence of peace that flows through them.

The mystics and saints are the ones who have moved the consciousness of the world and opened the hearts of those seeking to the truth that God is within.

What do you think about Christian mysticism?