Jesus Talking

Every morning, I eat my bowl of cereal while I watch the weather. Of course, in the process, I end up catching up on the top headlines and learning about various other happenings. For some reason, this morning, I started to flip the channels after the weather update. I ended up on TBN, the Christian channel, which I don’t normally watch. However, this morning, I stopped.

A teenage girl sat in what looked like a café with an older man that I, at first, presumed to be her father, but he ended up to be a man portraying Jesus. They were talking about the happenings of her day and also discussing some questions she had. It was a very laid back conversation. I loved the way he was relating to her, talking to her on her level without being condescending or “dumbing down” his explanations. He didn’t have some ridiculous far off look in his eyes or appear to be somewhere between this world and the “beyond.” In short, he didn’t portray Jesus the same way that so many movies or TV shows do. He was approachable, communicative, and informative. I found myself deeply drawn to their conversation and desiring so intensely that I could have the same kind of experience.

After they left the café, they wandered around the town, paused by the rails overlooking the river, and walked back to her house talking all the while. Before she headed into her house, she said, “When I was scared as a little girl, I always imagined myself doing the same thing.” He responded, “Do you think you’re too old for that now.” She replied, “I’ll never be too old for you.” He smiled and stretched his arms out wide, and she ran into them embracing him fully.

I know that might sound cheesy to some, but I found myself in tears. I yearn for that type of relationship with Jesus. Sometimes it’s so hard because I’m not able to have that tangible connection with him. I can read the Bible, pray, and listen for his voice in my heart, but I miss being able to just sit and feel the ebb and flow of conversation. I miss being able to look into his eyes. In our world, so much of our communication occurs through emails, text messages, and blogs like this one. We lose the nuances of the message this way. Tone, inflection, facial expression, and body language all lend themselves to meaning. I want to be able to see his face while he talks. I want to sit in some relaxing atmosphere and just talk about everything.

I want to listen and also to be heard.

Truly, we don’t really listen to each other the way we should. I’ve found myself talking very fast lately in fear that I would not be able to finish my thought before I’m interrupted. It seems that as soon as I mention a fact that peaks another person’s interest (regardless of whether of not she’s in the conversation), she jumps in with her own opinion or related story before I’m able to finish my own. Do I do that in my relationship with Jesus? Yes. I have a long way to go in my communication with him, and I’m working on it.