Brenden-

In most of our lectures within YWAM we have been learning many things about God. But, we haven't been learning just facts about the bible or how to become a good christian, we have been studying Jesus and his nature and character.

We sat in a lecture today with a man who was imprisoned in Iran for being a missionary. He lived in a 6 x 6 cell for nine weeks and everyday for the first week and once a week after they beat him. You might think what we learned today was how radical of christian he was or what a great thing he did. But, we didn't.

We learned about how God likes us. You may think, "okay, of course he likes us....he loves us." It took me a minute too. When was the last time you thought about God liking you, as in, wanting to spend time with YOU. Not, you praying for an hour and just continually asking God for forgiveness, but actually spending time with Him. It never occurred to me either until the speaker said it. It's hard to understand, but have we ever considered that God likes the things we like. I had to really consider what was being said here when the speaker asked us that. I guess I always picture God dealing with the world all day and listening to me but not actually interacting and wanting to be close. The truth is though, he likes us so much and wants to be a part of everything we do. And I'm not talking about little annoying Jimmy from down the street who wants to play, I'm talking about the God of the universe wanting to actually spend time with us and be close.

Being close, that one was tricky too. What do we think of when we think of the physical proximity of God? When I pray, I always feel like I have to pray for a really long time to get to him, or if I pray "hard" enough he might hear my prayers more. A previous speaker asked a girl in our class what she thinks she has to do to get closer to God. She said pray more and read her bible. He then spoke about how sometimes we envision God being far from us. In fact, at times that's always how we envision him. This idea of where He is makes it feel like we have to strive for him to be in our presence. But, the truth is he is truly close to us at all times. People often seem to think that when they make a mistake and sin that he leaves us. The whole purpose of the cross was that there would never be a barrier between us and God again. This blew me away. It changed my perspective on what he actually did for us. One of the coolest parts about this is that when we finally realize this, we can begin to be moved to do things for him, not out of obligation, but out of love. An example of this is when a husband needs to make an apology he might buy flowers for his wife, but a wife might appreciate flowers more when they come simply because her husband loves her and nothing is wrong. God is present. What is holding us back from knowing the closeness of God?