Jan 9, 2020
At the age of 20, Tom Smedley, Jesus Freak, could not think more than a week or two ahead. Part of this was his own sinful present-orientation. Part was the apocalyptic hysteria that marinated that movement.
At the age of 59, Tom Smedley, husband, father, and technical writer, completed an arduous five-year ordeal to earn his PhD. He was thinking in terms of the next 30-40 years, and of how to leverage his credibility as a proclaimer of the Gospel. His dissertation took the form of an apologia addressed to magistrates in a Muslim nation.
What made the difference? Embracing a better future. A future dominated by the elephant in the living room, the fact that Jesus is LORD over the vast universe around us as well as guru over the half-vast “universe” inside us. Inviting Jesus into your heart? Small potatoes. Religious experiences are a dime a dozen, and easily counterfeited, whether by a magic pill, or an hypnotic trance induced by a professional orator with mumbo-jumbo incantation…