Eye of the Tiger

It was about 8:45 p.m. The evening was like most evenings.......dark. I was coming back from across campus. I had finally reclaimed my lost cellphone from a guy named James. I had this gut feeling. I don't mean indigestion. I felt like stopping by Mike V's cage.

Mike is the fifth of several tigers to serve as LSU's mascot. Though I've stopped by Mike's home several time since I've been at LSU, every time I'd show up, he was asleep.

This night something was stirring him. As I wheeled my bike in the direction of his cage, there he was. The king of the jungle, pacing back and forth. I'll admit that as I approached something inside me trembled to be alone and confront him. He turned toward me and I told myself that if, when I got right up next to the exhibit, he roared, I would not freak out. I would stand still and catch my breath. As I approached, Mike stared me down.

There's something about tigers. They seem to be a mixture of friendliness, ferocity, and wild beauty. As it was, after looking at me for a few seconds, he stopped pacing and slumped down on the ground. There he was; a king of beasts, not five feet from my face, though behind bars. Shortly, he got up again and started pacing back and forth; his exhibit is quite large for its type, so there's plenty of space to be paced.

Eventually I sat down and just watched.....for about 15 minutes. There's something about his prowl that both terrifies and inspires the heart of man. At times he would stop and stare at me and I would watch his blazing eyes, trying to discern their meaning. Is that a portrayal of friendliness? Curiosity? Ferocity? There is something both extremely dangerous and extremely beautiful about the tiger as an animal.

Just like God.

Not that God's an animal. But there must be something certainly wild about the Creator. Something most definitively dangerous.....and aesthetically breathtaking.

Reminds me of a book a friend loaned me, that I'm trying to read bit by bit. John Eldredge's Wild at Heart examines this adventurous side of God. How boring Christians make the life God intended us to live. The greatest beauty some Christians will ever see is the arched ceilings of the edifice they attend worship in every Sunday. Or the ornate robes worn by their ministers. They will lose a wildly fascinating relationship with God...they will trade that in for a fleeting "religious moment."

Why did God make the terrible animal, the tiger, which shreds in prey and sprays gore in the four cardinal directions before a complete devouring of biological life?
Why did God make dangerous canyons that one must carefullly meander through, lest a plummeting death await them?
Why did God create a blazing sun that, millions of miles away, can rob the strongest of men of their strength?
Why did God make the female body so enthralling to men?
Why did God create angels that he knew would rebel....and be transformed into demons?
Furthermore, this means God created enemies for Himself. Enemies to fight. To destroy. To crush. In Isaiah 63:1-3 God says, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." This isn't pansy talk. God is violent. Why?
Why did God make the ocean miles deep, with uncharted treasures stored in its depths?
Why did God create extremes....an anarctic winter wonderland that will instantly freeze a person's unprotected skin........and a Sahara desert, a virtually uncrossable plain of nothing but sand?
Why did God make the orgasm such a thrilling experience?
Why did God create humongous sea creatures like the blue whale, with its breathtaking size and weight?
Why did God create the human race, a complex species whose constantly changing emotions and perceptions make it subject to uncharted feats of strength and landmark lows?

Certainly, the God we serve is "wild at heart." He is a God of adventure. This is how our relationship with Him should be. Wild.

Of course, (and I am borrowing from ideas in the book now), Mike, our tiger is caged. Perhaps, he didn't roar when I approached him because he has lost his fight. If I had approached Mike in his native habitat, I would not have returned to my pc to type this blog post.

So it is with us. We have lost the sense of what it means to be passionate about God...to live life with fervor. We have not fight. Our modern society of office cubicles and stock trading has reduced life to a bare minimum: whimpy survival. Getting by.

Maybe I think weird...

...but looking at Mike pacing in his cage, I couldn't help but think that we were meant to live for so much more.

And one more word on God's adventurousness...if that's a word. Sense of adventure. Better.

God is warlike. Obviously. Read the old testament....it is often a catalogue of battles.

I don't know about you, but watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and seeing all the orcs and various hellacious creatures preparing to make war against those few defenders of righteousness..........it stirs something in me. Seeing the hordes of hell march toward Helm's Deep arouses this eternal indignation for everything putrid, evil, and disgusting. These evil hordes marching through Middle Earth are a representation of evil. The evil that God created. God made an evil to war against...for us to conquer and be victorious over.

Why?

Let me ask you: Is God boring?