Too good to be true?

After what seems like an eternity, I am finally able to sit down and blog. After graduating, getting married, going on my honeymoon, and moving to Richmond, I have finally settled in my apartment to begin this new chapter in my life - which I now share with my wife Katie! I still wouldn't describe life at this point as "calm", perhaps maybe "subdued chaos", but now I can actually see calmness rising over the horizon emitting a light of peace I am beginning to feel the warmth of.

This entire experience, by that I mean the last month of my life and also the last six years or so following God, has brought me in regular contact with the concept of "too good to be true." Is that last statement actually possible? I will say that my present experience is so absolutely amazing that it does seem surreal sometimes. But the more I've thought about it over the years, "too good to be true" has turned out to be a cynical, and ultimately baseless, outlook on life. This is especially true if your worldview includes an infinite loving God like the One I am utterly convinced does, in fact, exist (without God, such a statement could make absolute sense-but that's for another blog). The even more remarkable fact is that in the Kingdom of God, which Jesus spoke so often about, this "absolutely amazing" quality of life that I am currently experiencing is what in kingdom-speak would be called "normal". Jesus calls this "life to the fullest" and tells us that his purpose in coming to earth is to give access to and model such a life. In fact, anything short of absolutely amazing in the Kingdom is odd. According to God, normalcy is found in the miraculous, joy is the rule, and love is a law more reliable than gravity. And in the world we live in it is possible to experience in part what we will one day experience in all its fullness.

Sitting here tonight, I've now come to believe the opposite about what I once believed about life - most things in this world are "too bad to be true." And even now, as I look ahead beyond the horizon of my present experience, I know that tough times and trials will lay ahead. But as I experience those times I will be resolute in my belief that they, in no way, bear any resemblance to the Kingdom I am ultimately journeying toward.

That's not just optimism - it's realism in its most profound sense.