Let me picture the scene for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently at Stanstead airport I was waiting for a plane,\nsomething lots of us have done. I could smell wafts of pasties loaded full of\ncheese and ham being consumed, litres of coffee and coke, full fat being\nchugged. To my right-hand side I could see a group of people on their third\npint and finishing off with a cheeky glass of prosecco. All normal stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get to this place I walked through the brightest tunnel\nof lights ever, illuminating seemingly endless shelves of perfumes and make up\nwith fellas frantically spraying themselves with 8 to 10 shots of the latest\nmust have scent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ok, so all of this is normal, but here\u2019s the deal, it was\n6am and I realised I was in \u2018that place\u2019. An in-between world where time and\nnormal life seems to be in transition. Like stepping into an old wardrobe that\nwas about to release me into a dream world. I was in between two moments. To explain this\nlet me impress you with my extensive vocabulary, I learnt a posh word for this\nrecently, to be honest I heard it in conversation and had to Google it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The word is: Liminal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A liminal space, as far as I can understand is that moment\nwhere, for example, as you walk through the threshold of a door, you are\nneither in the room you once where or in the room you are heading for, you are\nin a liminal space. Basically you are in the middle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, I don\u2019t want this to be fatalistic, (look at me,\nanother big word) where I talk about how we are just passing through life on\nearth and we are not yet at our final location, and in some way present the\ncurrent moment as irrelevant. That\u2019s not what I want to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I do want to do is perhaps take us to that incredible\nmoment instead in Dead Poet\u2019s Society, you know the one! \u2018Carpe Diem boys,\nseize the day!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the deal, a liminal space invites you to make a\nchoice, keep going forward and into the places and moments you need to or go\nbackwards and retreat. There is no place for a man in the door way of\nliminality, indecision and hesitation. Go through or go back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my life I have realised that we get a load of these\nliminal moments, decisions and choices. Should I say sorry or not, should I buy\nthat or not, should I marry or not, should I trust her or not\u2026the list goes on.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I sat there at the airport I realised that I was not in a\nliminal space with how I thought about Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had heard all about him, read about him in the bible and\ngathered the intel needed to get me to that door threshold. He was an\nincredible teacher, wise man and the most compassionate, loving person humanity\nhas ever seen. At the threshold I was faced with some more information, the\nbible says that Jesus is God\u2019s son, and Jesus lived a perfect life, died a\ncriminals brutal death and rose again to life after 3 days. The bible tells me\nthat Jesus accomplished that to make a way for me, a sinful fella to be\nforgiven, have a relationship with God now and when I die, to share eternity\nwith him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
OK, now I am well and truly on that door threshold. That is\na lot of information to take in, should I turn back from the threshold? It\u2019s\nultimately my choice and there is no one pushing me through. So I stepped\nthrough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t have all my answers, far from it. I have discovered that following Jesus has cost me everything, but I know now that this was the best decision of my life. I couldn\u2019t stay at the threshold, the in-between place, I had to make a choice. And so do you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Image Credit: Kiwihug<\/p>\n