I am a Pilgrim (9/25/2010)

 I am a pilgrim on the road following the path of Jesus.  I am a recovering Pharisee, who once in ignorance and arrogance felt I understood God and was qualified to teach and lead others into Truth.  The Fundamentalism of my youth was my schoolmaster to bring me to Christ, a framework to help me to begin to understand the love and grace of God. God had to remove me from the comforts of my environment, to transport me into another culture, to teach me how little I really understood.

 

While in Honduras as a missionary, I began to see my faith system for what it was: a simplistic approach to God that left me drinking milk as an adult; anemic, ill, and powerless in a world that was looking for something more than was being offered by my example and teaching.  

 

God graciously began to open my eyes, to teach me through things and people I once thought were outside of His system, things and people who I once viewed as foreign, as enemies, as objects to be converted or conquered.  In the process, it is I who am being converted and conquered, being brought into a truth more profound, overwhelmed into humility as was Job when questioned by God, no longer the expert, but now the child trying to digest new food.  The new diet at times does not settle well with me as my system adjusts and even rebels at the change, but slowly it is doing its work, as I become less anemic, less weak, and hopefully in the eyes of Jesus, growing into maturity and usefulness.

 

I am excited about the things I am learning!  I seek to share them with others, both to encourage them and to learn from them, as others help point out the errors of my thinking, asking questions that help me explore my faith, pushing me into deeper levels of understanding and inquiry.  I find that many have already walked this path and can advise me of the obstacles to avoid or encourage me in the direction to proceed.  Others are behind me, looking for illumination to their path.  And still others are right beside me, sharing a common point in the pilgrimage.  

 

So as I explore joining the community of Central Avenue Methodist, I am looking for traveling companions.  I am seeking the wisdom of those who have walked the path before me, the fellowship of those who are traveling beside me, and the company of new pilgrims who need someone to show them where to find the path.

 

Dave Drozek

9/25/10