“… every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”  (Matt. 13:52 Peterson).   The disciple of the kingdom commands the entire world and perceives the holiness of everything from morning solitude to, (as my friend, Tommy points out) “aisle seven at the supermarket.”  

I’ve been thinking of it like an extra dimension, as if I spent my first 45 years squished between the pages of an encyclopedia in the company of pressed flowers, photographs, circles, squares, and printed words – until the kingdom popped me right over into the third dimension.  And now it’s a world of objects and balls, boxes, bodies, and botanical gardens.  No wonder Jesus made such an issue of having “eyes to see” and “ears to hear.”  Unless a man or woman encounters the living Christ, it’s not merely difficult, but impossible to see the kingdom.”  (John 3:3)  A natural man can no more experience the Kingdom than a photograph of a man could enjoy a meal.

 So my prayer today is, “Father, give me eyes to see, and ears to perceive your Kingdom.  I was made for more than this stuffy, flat world.