RECOGNIZING GOD

Thursday, August 19, 2010

To joy of knowing God comes through recognition. Leonard Sweet talks about this in his marvelous book, Nudge--Awakening Each Other To The God Who's Already There.


"But recognition is easier said than done." Sweet illustrates this with a story about the famous theologian, Karl Barth.

Karl Barth was riding a streetcar in his home city of Basel, Switzerland. He took a seat next to a tourist, and the two men started chatting with one another.


"Are you new to the city? Barth inquired.

"Yes," said the tourist.


"Is there anything you would particularly like to see in the city?" asked Barth.


"Yes," said the tourist, " I would like to meet the famous Swiss theologian Karl Barth. Do you know him?"

Barth answered, "As a matter of fact, I do know him. I give him a shave every morning."

The tourist got off the streetcar at the next stop, quite delighted with himself. He went back to his hotel and told everyone, "I met Karl Barth's barber today."

In the same way we miss moments with God in our daily life. We don't expect to see Him and so we don't.

2 comments:

Mevely317 said...

Wow, I'm really moved by these last two lines. (In fact, this is the 3rd time I've come back this evening to re-read your post.)Everyday miracles occur before our eyes ... already I've missed so many.

Loren said...

OMG! How true is this!

I have this book for review and I am sooo looking forward to reading it :)