Lessons from the Man in Manitou

Manitou Springs, CO

This weekend, I had the coolest opportunity to go see some of my dearest friends in Colorado Springs. It was an AWESOME time to reconnect with incredible people, spend some intimate time with Jesus, and unwind at the end of an insane semester. We did all kinds of super fun things from soaking up some awesome worship at Every Home for Christ to exploring the snowy, narrow mountain roads. On Friday afternoon, we decided we would head up to Manitou Springs to try and tackle some Christmas shopping for our parents. In an attempt not to ruin Christmas, I'll just say that my mom loves unique things and she LOVES her homeland of Colorado, so I figured one of the little shops in Manitou was bound to have something for her. A shop filled with brightly colored metals and stones caught my eye, so we decided to venture in.

After looking around for a minute, the owner of the shop casually walked in from outside to greet us. The older gentleman walked us around the store telling us about all of the great deals and discounts he was going to offer us, and seemed satisfied when I settled on the perfect gift for my mom. We walked over to the checkout, and that is when the real conversation started. Seemingly out of nowhere, with no prompting from us, the man from Manitou started talking to us about his life. 

He told us about serving in Vietnam, watching his friends die on the field in front of him, and coming back at the end of the war seeking something real to alleviate the numbness that plagued him daily. After being back in United States for some time and struggling day after day just to find something to hold on to, he decided to return his Native American roots and began practicing suspension and weekly rituals at the sweat lodge. Every week, he goes and has his body pierced so that he can be hung from metal hooks in his chest, torso, legs, or back. He told us that all of these things are done in an attempt to feel something real, TO EXPERIENCE SOMETHING THAT COSTS HIM. He tried all kinds of religion, and this is where he finally settled because at least in pain there is 'something.' This man in Manitou is simply searching for something that makes him feel more than dead inside and he knows that feeling alive always comes with a cost. 

I can't tell you what my face looked like as I stood there and listened to him. I don't know if the tears fighting their way to the surface were evident to anyone but me, but my heart shattered. This man had seen death and experienced heartache and then came back to the United States and all he could find to make him feel alive again was more pain and more heartache. THIS is why a Christianity that costs us nothing must soon come to an end. This is why the church in America that promises nothing more than prosperity and riches to its converts can't go on much longer.

We will soon live in a nation that is so hurt, so desperate for something real, so broken and so numb from tradgedy that the church will finally have to be what it was meant to be. We as followers of Jesus will finally have to take up our cross and follow him. We will finally have to respond to the call to count everything as loss for the surpassing glory of knowing Christ. I am sorry that the man in Manitou never found a place among a body of believers where he was shown just how real life with Jesus can be. I sit here and weep over the fact that we were not there to extend the love of Jesus that strips away every bit of numbness and leaves a heart of flesh once again. I lament over the fact that the Christianity that was promoted to him promised a life that would cost nothing, and as a result, he walked away.

I take hope in the fact that there is a trumpet sounding, calling for all the sons and daughters of God to pick up their swords once again and FIGHT for something REAL that will COST EVERYTHING. I rejoice in the fact that true relationship with Jesus IS available to every hurt, broken, and calloused heart looking for another chance to feel again. I sing for joy that the day is coming and is here now that God is raising up a generation who will seek his glory and lay down their own because they know they have found the better thing.