We are having a practice run.  Looking after our (nearly) eleven week old grandson overnight.  Mum is at home close-by.  We have all their baby fixtures and fittings here.  For one night only.

Mum and Dad are away next weekend.  The practice night is for Mum rather than their wee son.  Mum wasn’t sure if she could spend one night away from Oliver next weekend.  This way Mum is close-by if the distance proved to be too great, or if all her advice (all of it!!) was not enough for Oliver, Nana and I to survive the night together.

Oliver has just had his third bottle of expressed milk and has slept like a baby in between.  Mum has been updated through the night and also slept well – and is going back to bed as I type this she tells me (instant messaging rules!).  Nana and Oliver have both been snoring for a while right here beside me.

Practice night … a success all round.

What does it take to trust someone else with a life so precious?  What do I need to know before I trust you with mine?  Why would I when there is no pressing reason to offer that life … when should I … with whom should I … and just what safeguards will I have in place to make this “a safe place”?

I wonder if “being saved” is a lot like this night with Oliver …

I gave my life to the biblical God.  I trusted this biblical God because of many others just like you.  Not just one person.  Not just one “bringing me to the Lord”.  None of that.  The “sowing and reaping” were of many and over many years.  That included others who believed and others who did not believe.  Because the others who did not were as important as those who did.  My biblical God who I trusted has no need of our needs in that.

And the safeguards?

I was given a very personal experience of just how much love this biblical God had to offer – an experience so personal and so intense that “giving my life” … “being saved” – is so completely the wrong description.

I was embraced with a love so great there was no “saving”.  There was no “giving” of anything on my part other than trust.  And what I found was unconditional sharing – an unconditional oneness – there were no “conditions” (as I had been taught) for how can there be “conditions” in Oneness?

And as I allowed myself to completely trust … to know I was safe in that trust … I have found One bigger than all faiths and all sacred texts and all religions.   One who is as much mine as I am One’s.  One who has no concept of punishment … no desire for judgement … who never demands obedience … One who is whatever I want because the One thing – the Only thing – that I want of this safe place is to love and be loved without condition.

I think we all want that – to be safe to love and be loved without condition.  It brings out the best in us … makes us more than we could ever be living in fear … allows us to connect better … to live together better … to show compassion better … it allows us to be kind to each other.

The biblical God I trusted turns out to be so much less than the “biblical God” I was taught …  “The Word” so much less than I was taught … Both are just an invitation – for how can they be anything else?

How can a bible and words be “The All and Everything” for anyone … ?

For me the “biblical God” and the “Word” was an invitation to One beyond words – One beyond the bible.  One who cannot be contained by mere words of religion(s) and faith(s) and prescribed belief(s).

And what I have come to know is this …

Why would anyone want a God that can be (in any sacred text)?

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