Words from Kim's Notebook

“Words From Kim’s Notebook”

I wonder if you can tell that I struggle with what to write in this space each month. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t consider writing this a burden. I enjoy writing. But in recent months, when I’ve sat down with my computer, I’ve had difficulty focusing my thoughts into something that I could translate into a coherent message. With so much going on in the world today, particularly with the economy and the stresses of my job, it has been quite a challenge to get my mind to settle down. So today I said to myself: What is the first thing that comes to mind? Write about that. And today, on this Sunday, at about 2 in the afternoon, John is on my mind. The apostle John.

John has been in my thoughts since I received a note from my cousin Lisa, who is a missionary living in Asia. Lisa writes a monthly newsletter in which she talks about the work she is doing overseas. In her last newsletter, she mentioned that she had been “hanging out with John.” She said it just like that, very casually. Knowing my dear cousin, I knew that she wasn’t referring to a friend or a boyfriend. I knew that she meant the apostle John. John, one of Jesus’ inner circle of friends and the author of the last of the four Gospels. John, author of three letters in the New Testament. John, who wrote the book in the Bible that since childhood I have considered to be both mysterious and even a little frightening: the book of Revelation.

My cousin Lisa is well-versed in the Bible, much more so than I. Several years ago, she and my Aunt Dianne visited me here in New York. Despite the hustle of our schedule during their brief visit—sightseeing in Manhattan and around Orange County—Lisa always found time to curl up on my couch with a pen, notebook, and the Bible. I admired this because I do not do as good of a job of making time to curl up with the Good Word (as my Southern Baptist cousin refers to it). I remember that when Lisa was here, she was hanging out with Paul—that is, she was reading the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. Lisa mentioned at the time that Romans was one of her favorite books of the Bible.

And so now, she is spending time with John. Inspired by that, I decided to hang out with John today. Before I share a passage here, I think it’s important to remember that John is someone who actually knew Jesus when Jesus was here on Earth in human form. We all know that, of course, but when we read the Bible—at least this is the case with me—it is easy to forget that these are not the words of just any historian, but the words of someone who lived at the same time as Jesus, who prayed with Jesus, ate with him, hugged him, laughed and cried with him, and experienced the agony of losing him (albeit temporarily) to the horrors of a crucifixion.

The following is from 1 John 1:1-2, 5. This letter is thought to have been written between A.D. 85 and A.D. 95: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
—Kim Paras