Lest these questions prompt you to think that I think less of Holy Scripture than a Christian should, let me hasten to add, nothing could be further from the truth. It is from these very pages that I learned of Jesus, my Savior, my Lord and my God. It is from these pages that I continue to learn and grow spiritually. The more I learn of the Bible, the greater its continual and profound resource for my life. It is from these pages that I have learned of how God dealt with and interacted with men like me, for millennia. I hold the original Autographs of the holy writings as inviolable and sacrosanct.

But though the sacred page has informed me of Jesus, it has but pointed the way, like a signpost at a fork in the road. And while, admittedly, it goes much deeper than that, it is still an advisory, an educator, a motivator and guide; and to be sure, a revealer of Truth.

The Bible, however holy and sacred, is not the real tangible, palpable Jesus. Only Jesus himself is the real Jesus. He alone is living, personal, dynamic and eternal. I engage him as a living Person. I do not and cannot so engage holy writ. The Bible is not a person, let alone a Person. I am in him and he is in me. We share an intimacy wholly distinct and separate from the written Word, yet in concert with it. The written Word itself speaks of this magical phenomenon. But mind you, it is not an illusion. This is a reality available to all who believe.

My relationship with him is not a story, a parable, a historical record, or in its essence, an intellectual revelation about God and what he does or does not do. My relationship with Jesus is not doctrine, however important and crucial to Christian thought discerning doctrine and theology may be. My relationship with Jesus is not a "belief system." While my eyes do not behold his Person or his physical shape; while I do not hear auditory words from his lips, while I have never actually touched the material hem of his garment, I have, nonetheless, felt his touch and his love. I have heard him speak to my heart, my soul and my mind. I have seen with my eyes, the tangible, tactile, concrete dimensional results of his presence, power and knowledge. I know, and can produce a litany of anecdotes; real life, test-tube experiences of what he has done in my life and in the lives of others.

In the Old Testament, the ancients were given to building an altar, a memorial of stones or wells whenever they existentially encountered the Lord of Hosts. I, too, have built such altars, such memorials; not of stone, wood or dirt, but of memories and gratitude. I can tell you, as have the prophets of old, that I have met the Lord on numerous occasions, and that he is real, and that he is Love. And so it is with each and every one who has been reborn into the family of God. So it is with each one who has tasted of the wine of the cross, and found that it is good.

All of this to say that when we read and meditate on the Bible, that it is not always a spiritual mountaintop, nor was it meant to be. We may take away from it more than historical facts, and those facts may or may not be something that lifts our hearts to touch the face of God. Often it is just a recording of events (often brought about by God, often not), a description, nothing more, of what happened -- never intended to be the foundation upon which to build and form our lives or our spiritual fervor. It does not always warrant a sacerdotal approach, it does not always warrant our emulation. It is not necessary that we always read into these records some spiritual significance, some "lesson" which our imaginations fancy, other than the simple meaning which is obvious and plain to all.

Not to say that it is wrong to let our imaginations enhance or build wreaths, interpretations and adventures around what we read, indeed, preachers do that every time they preach a sermon, or every time they write a book. But let us also accept our imaginings for what they are -- pure fiction, which we may or may not find edifying. And let me hasten to add, as well, that our imaginings may not always be fiction. We must assume they are fiction because we do not know if they are patently untrue, or if they are reality, or somewhere in between. We are given the basics facts and flow of information from Scripture. We are not told everything. As the apostle John observed, the world could not contain the books that could be written of the life of Jesus. If our imaginations fill in the gaps, may they never run counter to the written word; then hopefully, may they be reasonable, deductible, plausible imaginings, and if so, things may have actually happened the way we imagine them.

Imagine that!