God's Faith in Me

Mo and I watched Rob Bell's 8th Nooma shortfilm, Dust, tonight. I picked up three of his shorts at the local Christian bookstore today (while Mo was shopping for my birthday present, which I actually chose myself...long story, but it goes much better that way). I am a newcomer to Nooma (was introduced a couple months back when I bought Rob Bell's "Everything is Spiritual Tour" DVD) and I checked the FAQ section of their website to confirm what I figured "Nooma" was supposed to mean:

Question:
What does NOOMA mean?

Answer:
The name NOOMA is an English phonetic spelling of the Greek word pneuma, which is commonly translated to “spirit” or “breath”.Pneumatology refers to the study of spiritual beings, particularly the interactions between humans and God.


Cool. Spirit films. Really well done! Really, really, really well done.

And here is what knocked me over in Dust: Jesus only calls disciples who he knows can become like him. Bell does an awesome job of walking through 1st Century Jewish society and explaining how a rabbi would call his disciples. Only those who had the potential to become like that rabbi would be called to follow him . And so, regardless of how inadequate I may feel at times, Jesus called me to be his disciple. Wow! I know, I know...this should be nothing new. I "know" this stuff...it just hadn't completely sunk in.


I have been in a tough space over the last couple months. I've been dealing with some poor choices I've made over the last 11 months and at times I have felt totally "off the path" vocationally. I have wondered at times if I haven't screwed it all up beyond repair. And, then in comes Dust's message and I'm floored. I'm deeply comforted. Jesus has faith in me. Jesus would not have called me to follow him, if he hadn't seen the longterm result: that I can look more and more like him. This is what we call "sanctification" in Christianese. And tonight I have been washed again by Jesus' promise that he called me because he knew something about me (that I can follow him well...the Spirit being my guide). AMEN!