perplexing attration-following the Rider

Can you picture Jesus riding a Harley?
Not much in the way of a muffler.
No helmet.
Powerful engine.
A neighborhood presence.
At ease with so many.
At odds with so many others.
A person free from societal norms.
A person in tune and bound by the heart cries of even the lowliest.
Unworried about so many details of life.
Attentive to details that concern marginalized souls.

Jeff Jacobson, in his book "So I Go Now-Following After the Jesus of Our Day", writes about his own experience with Jesus in these modern times and how he's experienced His presence in the world.

This book is paradoxical for me. It was compelling enough to make me devour its contents between weekends with many "ahah" moments of agreement or wonder and yet it also had me slogging along trying figure out what on earth the author was saying and where he was going (the latter was the case more often than not). Maybe my struggle was tied somewhat to the idea that this work is one of poetry (as described by another person) and poetry is not always an interest for me-at least not an easy read. Poetry takes time to absorb. Maybe that's why Scripture is not always easy. So much is poetic-thus requiring meditation and time to digest. I figure I'll have to work my way through this volume at a slower pace next time to catch on to more.

However, my very attraction and struggle with this book about Jesus seems to strangely resemble the followers of Jesus in His day (2000 years ago) and their attempts to make heads or tails of Him. They were most certainly drawn to Him, and yet they couldn't seem to get Him all figured out. Maybe that's part of what keeps us attracted to Him. He's mysterious. It's through little epiphanies here and there-sometimes clustered together and other times, more often than not, spread thin throughout our lives such that we can almost forget them from one to the next-that we grow to understand who Jesus is and what He's up to.

Maybe the title of this book is really where it's at? I can't understand much of what He's up to, so I just go following after Him. When He invites me to climb aboard His Harley for a ride-I have a choice to make!

The safety of my minivan.

Or

The freedom and joy of riding who knows where with the Rider!
(This analogy borrowed from the book)

Oh yes, in spite of my struggle to grasp much of this piece of literature, I definitely recommend it and I'll probably scribble more about it later.