So, there I was last winter, on a dark and windy and rainy night in Corvallis, shoehorned into a small-ish sports bar called the Angry Beaver. The place was packed with old guys from just about every walk of life, but tied together by a single rope that was faithfully held by one hand. Differences in status and health and location melted away that night and old stories were retold and ribald songs sung and plenty of food and drink was consumed because we were all rugby players at OSU. And we were there to honor our coach/mentor/friend, Woody Bennett.

The wilderness should not be taken lightly. We can easily hang descriptive words on it like: harsh, lonely, desolate, painful, anxious, depressed and lost, that all wrap themselves around the idea of the wildlands. These are the places we try to avoid and seek an exit from as soon as possible; but if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, these places are also where the most rich times with God can be discovered.

In every part of life we find God. It is so tempting to think that Jesus only resides in my quiet time or prayer or church service, and leaves the rest for us to figure out, but he is in the midst of it all. Growth in and through those times stands as worthy targets.

Numerous times the writers of Scripture challenge readers to fine tune personal behavior toward some version of "be holy as he is holy." While most Jesus followers will agree that our lives must appear more and more like Jesus in how we live and the choices we make, just how that looks differs by region and culture and time.

In my book Bob Dylan is a master poet/songwriter; maybe the best of our era. Recently, Claudia and I attended a wedding where the father of the groom, who officiated the thing, used the lyrics from Forever Young as part of his message. It fit the couple perfectly and it rivaled the stunning vistas of a high lake and mountain backdrop for the wedding.

As for Christ-followers today, some are free and living kingdom life here and now, others have yet to hear the news and are still in bondage, and tragically, some have heard but can't believe it is true and so continue to walk in fear as a slave.

We can no more control Jesus than we can control a raging storm. But a common deceit runs along the lines that if we behave just right and pray just so and posture correctly, Jesus is almost duty bound to give us what we desire. That desire may be for good things like safety or health or success and so he becomes our Divine Genie coming through on our behalf.