In the Bible, Jesus tells the story of a young boy who leaves his father's house and ventures into the far country to find his fortune. Instead he lives a life of wasteful extravagance which ultimately leads to his "coming to his senses" and returning home. That story was my story.
As a young boy I was taught to love God but was never really sure that he loved me. I found the acceptance I needed in the world of entertainment. Just like the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 I left my father's house and lost myself in the Far Country of celebrity and acclaim. I knew those things weren't real but neither was the love of God. God existed in some distant and supernatural realm, one that I wasn't good enough to approach, but I was okay with it. I was getting validation from my careers, my possessions and relationships with others who had the same unfulfilled need. The trouble is, God was the only one who could truly satisfy that need.
I knew he was calling me, but for some reason I couldn’t seem to find Him - even in Church. I wanted to go back to him, but over the years the separation had become too sustained, and my guilt too great to overcome. Only when the illusion of fame and fortune faded and I was about to lose everything did my spirit miraculously awaken to a new understanding of my relationship to God, who Jesus said was our father. It liberated me from a sense of guilt, shame, and my own self inflicted isolation. Peggy Lee once famously sang, "If that's all there is, then let's keep dancing". But when the music stopped and there was no longer anyone to dance with I finally came to my senses.
I did return home. And when I did I found God, the father, graciously waiting for me with a love that changed everything. He didn’t ask me where I’d been or what I’d done. I thought I had been apart from him, but God never saw it that way. The son never exists apart from the father. The son is a part of the father.
My hope is that in time, the world awakens to this powerful understanding. It has the power to change everything that is wrong with our world.
