So, you think you know me?

Recently, I began to notice some slight changes around my wife. However, being the typical man, it took me much longer to finally realize what I was noticing. It began with a glimpse of a pink hand-bag here, matching pink ear-rings there, a pink pendant to complete the ensemble. I easily wrote off the changes with a man’s perspective of fashion, “It must have matched the outfit.” But then, she began to point out the pink this, and the pink that. Something wasn’t right.

My wife and I dated for 5 years before we were married. This year we celebrated our 10th anniversary. In all this time, my wife’s favorite color has ALWAYS been green. We drive a green mini-van because that’s her favorite color. Her favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip, still green. She looks forward to St. Patrick’s Day each year so she can get a “Shamrock shake” from Mc Donald’s, also green. Her favorite gem has always been emerald, yes, that’s right, green.

So, after it finally dawned on me that my wife wasn’t wearing anything green, I brought up the question. “I thought you liked green, what’s with all the pink lately?”

After 15 years of dating this beautiful woman, I learned something I never knew. When she was a child, every other girl loved pink, and since she wanted to be different, she chose green to express her individuality.

“I like green,” she said, “but I really like pink too.”

How could I not know this about her? Fifteen years I’ve dated this woman, years of friendship before that. How could I have not known? You think you know someone…

I thought I had my wife all figured out. I had her examined, categorized, classified and filed. Now I find myself re-examining my findings. If I failed to know this, what else might I have missed?

We don’t even realize when we do it. We scrutinize, categorize, classify and file most of the people we meet. We know who they are, and can anticipate their every behavior. Very rarely do they surprise us.

And just as we classify the people in our lives, so we classify God. We scour the scriptures, scrutinize the stories, categorize the topics, classify the behaviors, and then file God under some vague category like “Good.”

Then we get Angry with God because He fails to behave in the proper categorized manner we have expected. God is my healer, why hasn’t He healed me? God is my comforter, why does He seem so distant? God is my friend, why do I feel so lonely?

You can’t read the gospels without seeing Jesus jump from category to category, confusing his disciples and followers. One minute, He’s a raving lunatic chasing merchants and money changers with a whip. The next moment, He’s meek and quiet, rebuking Peter for using a sword.

Perhaps God gets tired of living in the tiny boxes we provide. Perhaps He’s moved so He could surprise us. He’s jumped from our folder, filed under “Good,” so we could discover Him filed under “Merciful.” He’s moved from “Merciful” so we’d find Him under “Holy.” He's moved from "Holy" so we'd find Him under "Just."

If your relationship with God has grown stale and stagnant, you may want to check the box where you filed Him. The odds are, He’s not where you left Him.

An added challenge for the adventurous types...

God is looking for explorers. He's looking for those who are willing to lay aside what they believe they know, to discover the reality of who God is. Only the daring few who will lay aside their book knowledge for life experience will gain the understanding to transform their life, and change their world.

The Apostle Peter had many faults, however his adventurous pioneering spirit gave him insights and understanding that transformed him into a world changer. All the other disciples saw Jesus as the water walker, but Peter knew Him as the water walker. There is a difference between seeing Jesus walk on the water, and walking with Him hand-in-hand. There is a difference between seeing Jesus heal people, and allowing Jesus to heal using your hand.

But I would be remiss if I didn't caution you prior to this expedition. Failure awaits your very next step. You see, before Peter could walk hand-in-hand with Jesus, he first had to sink on his own. Life changing experiences most often come at the price of life changing failures. It's okay. It's expected. Jesus is waiting to stretch out His hand and show you the way.

I believe heaven may have a sign posted outside the pearly gates, "Adventurers wanted. Apply within."