where has jesus gone?

so, in my daily web searching, i generally check a few "regulars." One is a site I recently referenced in a blog called ASBO Jesus. If you don't know what ASBO means, here's Jon's descrpition:

btw. for the non british among you… an ‘asbo’ is an ‘anti-social behaviour order’… the courts here 

award them to people who are deemed to be constant trouble in their neighbourhoods… 

presumably according to their neighbours!

So, long story short, I think it's some REALLY great stuff. This one really caught my attention though, the one at the top. And its got me wondering, where has Jesus gone? Let me go ahead and make sure you know I don't think Jesus moved out of the neighborhood or anything like that, just that I don't know where we see Him anymore. I wonder if this response in the cartoon is too real, and we meet Jesus and don't even know it. If we meet a poor or homeless guy and he says life is so hard, and we tell him he needs Jesus. What does that mean anyways? "Believe in Jesus and you'll have all the money and love and stuff you'll ever need!" Is that really the offer? Because I think I could believe in the lottery and pull the same thing off.  

This cartoon inspires me really. In the line of work I'm in, we don't exactly roll in the cash. Not without going to a seminary and becoming a "professional" at least. And I don't live in poverty at all, but I don't live in a house I own either, or a fancy, dressed up neighborhood either. And I kind of like that. I don't mean that in a snobby way, I just like that I don't live in a place where everything is so clean and wrapped up in a bow. I think life is messy, and to try and live otherwise is like trying to stop a wave in the ocean. Very Stepford, if you will. But there are days that I would love to leave it all and go make a crap ton of money, drive a nice new car (this or this would be fun for around $50K-$124K) and work in a trendy glass covered office and go home to some cool place in OkC. But then I see something like this in my own life, and I realize that this isn't how I'm going to live. And I'm really pretty okay with that. 

So for me, I hope and long more to be made into the image of Jesus. And that the things that would make him weep for a thousand years are the things that make me weep too. And I feel like in all of this, that by trying to be in that place, that I'm close to God. And that He is close to me too, that He lets me be close and be a part of the things on His heart. And THAT is the thing that I want more than anything. I don't feel like I'm always close to God like I want, and honestly, my heart is really broken because I feel like God wants closeness but I can't find where He's hiding out. 

In my search though, the thing I find true is the need for simplicity. For things to not be so complex, mostly because things are naturally messy. I don't need more things to do, more places to go. All I need to is to know who I am, Who's I am, and to be that person. For me, that means loving Jesus, loving my wife and my son, my friends, and having deep friendships with everyone in that list. And to be on mission to see where God is at work, and to do that work. I've found a place in town, and a place or two overseas. I just want to see more of this though. That is where my heart is. Looking for God's.

live deeper.