Real Life by Peggi Tustan

Welcome to Real Life . Can you hear me now? Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable. – David Augsburger [1] “Please look at me when I’m talking to you!” I would often say this to my sons while they were growing up. Because if they were playing and distracted, they might hear my words, but until I looked into their eyes, I couldn’t be sure they actually grasped what I was saying. We adults are not much different. We’re busy and distracted. We hear words all day long. But are we actively listening? Jesus Christ was incredibly busy in his earthly ministry. Yet he took the time to listen. At the pool of Bethesda, he asked the paralytic, “Do you want to get well?” [2] When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus listened to Mary’s and Martha’s words of disappointment and grief; and he wept with them. [3]    When the blind beggar Bartimaeus called out to him, Jesus stopped and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” [4] Jesu...

Welcome to Real Life . Got friends? “Friendship is born of that moment when one person says to another, ‘What? You, too? I thought I was the only one.’” –C.S. Lewis We are meant to live in community. God created us to need one another. You and I are not meant to travel this journey of life alone. Relationships are integral to a healthy existence. In his earthly ministry, Jesus surrounded himself with twelve disciples. They walked, lived, and served together for three full years. Of the twelve, Peter, James, and John became his closest friends. Jesus both needed and modeled healthy relationships. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends , for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15 NIV emphasis mine) In recent decades, our culture has shifted in some pretty dramatic ways. It has become more difficult to build and maintain healthy relationships. “Our ability to connect e...