The Secret Place: Where's Yours?

This is an article I wrote for my church's youth group newsletter, "The Radical Insider." Intended audience: my fellow youth. The image is a drawing by me.

Typing furiously into her iPhone 4, you’d think she was caught up texting two chatterboxes she calls her best friends, her clingy boyfriend, some guy who sits behind her during Psychology class who wouldn’t leave her alone, a classmate who was asking for yesterday’s homework, and an overprotective mother asking about her wellbeing twice an hour�"but she wasn’t. Ripped jeans, legs crossed, Indian-style, hoodie up, and Dr. Dre headphones appropriately placed (and blasting what seemed to be rock music) made her appear like any other teenager. Her eyebrows were furrowed�"you could count the creases�"and not one jolt of the train seemed to bother her. Now and then she’d flutter her eyes closed for the shortest two seconds, a hint of a smile adorning her radiant face. A random laugh or giggle and a sing-song outburst of what seemed to be the chorus of the song that was currently playing on her iPod, made everyday passengers question her. Why was she here everyday at 6:00 AM, sitting on that same mustard-yellow seat three seats away from the sliding doors, merely (what appears to be) texting and listening to music? Most importantly, why would she ride the train all the way to the last stop and hop on another one just to go back to where she started? It was bizarre.

 

One day, my curiosity got the best of me, but my shyness still claimed me. I, being a frequent rider of this subway, nonchalantly sat next to her to peak at what she was typing and to whom she could possibly be talking to at such an early hour of the day. I took out my own Blackberry and pretended to check my messages and e-mail. As my eyes glided over from my screen over to hers, I was taken aback by what I saw and heard. For one, the volume of her music was turned up to the fullest, and I heard the exact song my daughter enjoyed blasting in her own room�"a song by a Christian band she started to like after she got all church-y and religious-y a few months ago. But what surprised me the most was that she wasn’t texting. She had that familiar yellow “Notes” application up, and her zebra-striped fingertips moved like a blur over the touch-screen. The note was titled with today’s date and: “Dear Father of Heaven.” She was typing a love letter. …So every day, she typed a love letter. She definitely noticed that I was reading over her shoulder, but instead of putting her iPhone away, she let me continue reading. In her “letter to God” she recounted the events of the previous day/night and either asked for forgiveness or praised God for what happened. She then went on to write about some freakish love that “burned in her heart.” She was on fire for something, but could it be God? Out of all things? She, a mere teenager, was in love with a Person who was irrevocably nonexistent to me? Craziness. Madness. I can’t even wrap my mind around it.  I looked at her face incredulously and I could barely distinguish dried up tears caked on her cheeks. She looked at me and smiled. And in that split second, I knew.

 

Was she for real? This can’t be right, but it is. My entire life I thought all Christians were stiff-necked old white men who voted for the Republican candidate in every election. I thought Christianity was rules and abiding by legalistic ways of life�"but it was different for this girl, like, it was much more than anything this world has ever known. I gathered up the courage to clear my throat and speak to her, and what I came out of my mouth shocked me. I asked her to introduce me to the real Jesus Christ.

 

“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” �" 1 Timothy 4:12

 

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A secret place�"it doesn’t have to be somewhere extravagant (like a lawn chair placed on the white sands of a Hawaiian beach, overlooking the horizon as the sun sets, all the while the wind blows through your hair). I highly believe a lot of us don’t have the luxury to do that every day. But what God wants is simply your time. The girl in the above story spent an hour or so on the subway, praying through typing on her iPhone. It was sincere and heartfelt, and she even got the chance to share her joy with an unbeliever.

 

Now the opportunity to share the gospel may not always happen, but that is not the central point of this article. The point is: God wants to start with you. He wants you to yield YOU to HIM, no matter how far you have strayed away from Him.

 

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.” �" James 1:22-25

 

To be a true “Christian” is to do away with the label and start working on your heart and how you can let it open for God and His love. It’s about intimacy with the Father! Start with the Bible and read the stories you’re used to hearing. There’s something more; there always is. Start in that secret place. Where will yours be?

 

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” �" Proverbs 8:17