Is my Jesus too small . . .

After several years of trying to take a good shot, I finally took a decent picture of the Christ of the Ozarks statue, shooting east from the gardens at the St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Eureka Springs, just below the Crescent Motel.

This statue, located on the grounds of the Great Passion Play, is close to 6 stories tall. The arm span is around 60 feet.

Awesome! Simply awesome!

This is only about the 3oth time in my life I have seen the statue. It is an "automatic" every time we go to Eureka Springs, to go see the statue from the church gardens, and then drive across town and up the hill to the Great Passion Play site, and walk down to the statue.

Not far from the statue, across from the Great Passion Play entrance, there is a gift shop. Inside the gift shop, you can purchase a little 6-inch miniature of the 6-story tall statue.

I wonder . . . is the Jesus I first asked to live in my heart when I was 15 or 16 years old, and the Jesus I have in my heart today . . . are they the same?

Is he the 6-inch tall Jesus, or the 6-story tall Jesus?

Just how big, in my life, was the Jesus I first asked into my life? And just how big is the Jesus who lives in my 51 year old heart today?

The Jesus I first asked into my heart was probably the 6-inch version. Today, some 38 years later, I think the Jesus who lives in my heart is even bigger than the 6-story Jesus statue I try to visit every year.

I think, for me, that's the way it should be.

It is good that Jesus lives in our hearts. It is good to know that Jesus is growing in our hearts as well . . . as we come to know him better.

I have learned so much more about Jesus over the years of my life, and in the course of my ministry, than I first knew when I was a teenager. My relationship with Jesus is something I have worked at for a long time, and one that I will continue, by my choice, to work at.

I talk and write a lot about paths, spiritual journeys and adventures . . . those terms perhaps best describe my understanding of spirituality. Lately, in my prayers, journaling, and study . . . I feel that Jesus is asking me not to "settle" on what I know . . . but to continue to discover him.

I get the impression that what I know and believe about Jesus is just a "scratching of the surface" of what I have still yet to discover.

I think Jesus wants to grow even bigger in my heart . . . and he wants me to help.

Ever forward . . . ><>