Why we do what we do
If you are reading this, you are doing so because - one way or another - you found a link to something unknown. The link was visible, as it is an intriguing image, but somewhat disguised amidst everything else going on. At first glance, nothing too special, but you clicked anyway, just in case it contained more than what you first assumed. You may have found it by mistake, or maybe you went searching for it, or maybe someone told you about it. Some combination of random circumstance, curiosity, and intentionality got you here. There is an old story that I encountered in much the same way that you found this link. There was something hidden, something unknown, something intriguing that captured my attention. Some people learn about this mystery seemingly by mistake, some go looking for it, and sometimes one generation may pass along the old story to the next. For me, it was a combination of all of those.

There are times that this story is quite truly a cloaked secret, and other times it feels like the most known story in the world. The difference is how much you know about the story. None of us know more than just bits and pieces, as heroes are inevitably surrounded by every sort of fantastical story throughout the ages. What we do know, or perhaps better stated, what we believe we know, is that there was once a man who walked this earth who was not like the rest of us. As the story holds, he looked like a man, but his actions, his words, his abilities, revealed his secret. It is his secret, once revealed, that rocked the culture he lived in, and has implications for us even today. For after all, we are not an island, but in many ways, we are a product of the generations before us. What happened then, echoes in us even today. The details vary, but there is enough similar stories to see a clear pattern that fuels this mystery. This man was, well, an alien - for lack of a better word. Of course, you could define the word 'alien' in many ways, but what I mean here is that he was clearly from somewhere beyond the limits of the earth. He could do things, he knew things, that were not natural to this realm. As the stories go, he could alter the chemical and physical nature of things simply by touching them. He could control the wind with his mind. He had some sort of power over animals, as they responded to his direction in unnatural ways. There are even stories about him touching people and healing their wounds. What's more, he knew things that only a foreigner could know. He would talk about events that were happening simultaneously miles away, only for others to find out he was right. How could he have known that? These stories are old - B.C. era - no digital technology to speak of. He would tell stories about his homeland - fantastical descriptions of a peaceful and magnificent place that he came from.

As soon as he started saying that people could return to his home with him, it appears he quickly made many friends and enemies at the same time. Many wanted to follow him, many wanted to kill him. In the end, the angry crowd won - they did, in fact, kill him despite the many powers this so called 'man' possessed. But here is where the story turned into an everlasting saga that has trickled down to our ears. After everyone was fully satisfied that he was dead and buried, thousands of people saw him walking and talking again in the same city a few days later. However, he was different now - doing things like walking through walls and disappearing before people's eyes. Many thousands of people saw him doing these things both before and after he died - and it is those witnesses who wrote the stories that we read today.

I don't know about you, but when I hear a story like this, I find myself wanting to believe it. I constantly find myself wishing and hoping for the wild, unbelievable myths to be true. Ideally I'd like to see them happen in my lifetime, but if not, believing the ancient stories are true is enough to explode my worldview. I am intrigued and unmistakably drawn towards the stories of this man. There are enough stories from unrelated people in unrelated places to convince me this story is true. We know only bits and pieces of what he said and what he did, but what we do know, I want to believe. In truth, I do believe. His name was Jesus of Nazareth. He is the son of the One who formed the first particles of our universe. His life and his death made it possible for us to join him in the far away land that he came from, as though his blood opened a portal to the beyond. He asked everyone to do two things - believe he is who he said he was, and show love to everyone we encounter. By my estimation, everything he said seems to have been an effort to benefit us in this life and beyond anyway. How could I not follow an ancient hero like that? I, for one, believe him, and I have every confidence that I will one day get to walk around - like he did - after I die. If he says that his death and blood made that transformation possible, I believe it. It's outrageous enough that it might just be true. I believe it is.

If you want to find out more about this foreigner, there is a collection of stories that the defenders of this ancient champion have collected over the years. Read books like Luke, John, and James. Decide what you believe and have hope in your eternal life.

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