I Hit A Speed Bump

Life Without "Bubbles"
Let's be honest; I go to a Bible College and that means that I live in a very, very small bubble. On most days, I have no idea what the top headlines on CNN.com are and usually I don't really care to know. Perhaps that sounds pathetic.

For me, it is so easy to go charging through my day, going about my usual routine, completely unaware of anything thats going on outside my 'bubble'. Contrast that with the life of Jesus and what you'll notice is that He always very aware of His surroundings; He was never off in His own little bubble (Except when He fasting for 40 days in the desert and praying so hard in a garden that He was sweating blood . . .neither of which we'll ever actually do).

He felt the power that left His body when the women with the issue of blood touched Him. He heard the cry of blind Bartimaeus when everyone else was telling Bart to shutup. He knew that Zacchaeus was hiding in a tree. He was just plain aware of what was going on around Him. No bubble.


Look Around
So then, a question must be asked; how 'aware' am I of the things that are going on around me as I progress through my day? If I had to rate my "world-awareness" on a scale from 1-10 it would probably be somewhere around a 1.5 . . .maybe . . .on a good day.

I run to my classes because I'm always late. I eat my food as fast as possible and leave the cafeteria even faster. I drive to work, on average, at 80 mph; I drive home from work at 85. Basically, I live life in that American "bubble" called the fast lane, completely unaware of world issues like poverty and the increasing violence that pollutes the earth I live on.

Slowing Down
Contemplating my stupidity feels equivalent to running over a speed bump at 70 mph, but maybe it's a good thing. Because, while I'm sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck to come, I realize that there's a world outside my bubble. There is a sun in the sky, trees in the forest, people who could use some encouragement, starving children who could use some food . . . There's so much more to the world than just me.

So if your life has just hit a speed bump, consider it an opportunity to slow down and become aware of the world outside your bubble...it's a very humbling feeling, really it is.