In Between

We are summit people, selfie on top of Mount Quandary people. See me with my trophy on Instagram people. 

We are paradise people, give me my drink and my chair. Clear my calendar, and let the petsitter care for the dogs.

We are defensive people, scrapping in arguments to settle the score of who we are. We play chess with conversations.

But much of the life God has given is not lived in these cinematic moments — the accomplishment, the vacation, or the conflict. Most of life is in fact lived in the in between. 

Whether by sinful perspective or God’s good design, we often treat the in-between moments as means to an end. No one talks about how great the road to the beach is — you just want to get there. 

I loved to surf in college. My roommates and I would check the surf report, and when the surf was up and we could get away, we’d throw our boards in our trucks and head south to the gulf. I don’t remember the drives. I remember being hurried, excited like a kid on Christmas. I remember putting on my wetsuit as quickly as possible and literally running into the surf.

Golf is also a clear illustration of the principle of the in between. It is a game of moments of thrill or utter embarrassment. You walk or ride a golf cart between them, and the journey to the next shot is anticipatory, numb even.

Social media crowns us in these moments. We are able to take the gems of life and face them outward so others can see. Even if we post or share something about the mundane parts of life, it’s supposed to be funny or we’re just humble bragging.

What if these spaces in between, the ordinary Tuesday afternoon at work or the trip to the grocery store were moments of great meaning, purpose, and dare I say adventure? What if these were not throw-away times, but rather times to feel fully alive, present, and engaged? What if we no longer lived for another time but for this time, right now?

That is what I want to explore. 

1. As You Go

Deuteronomy 6 is a really important part of the Bible, where God tells His people how to live. He gives them His words, and He says to take them with them into their in betweens.

Now we are not trained for this. We would take a word from God and make it a book, a sermon, or a pithy post. We’d apply it in our next conversation. We treat God’s word like a building material, and we look for a place to use it. 

But God teaches something very different here, a non-transactional way of hearing Him and following Him. It’s at home. On your driveway. With the kids at bedtime. At your bedtime. It is a very flowy and non-linear way of hearing and obeying His voice. Yes, it’s your quiet time. But it’s all the time.

2. Show Yourself a Man

When King David is about to die, he has some parting words for his son Solomon. Deathbed words are potent, filtered. They need no pleasantries, nor do they need to defend or posture. What David says to his son is really important.

You might think he’d explain how to be a great king. You might think he’d tell him to take care of the family. 

He says to man up. 

Not man up in the western, macho sense. Man up in a godly sense. Follow after God, walk in His ways. Meander through your in-betweens at God’s heels, listening to Him and obeying Him. In this you will show yourself a man worthy of following, a man after God’s own heart.

Solomon would have some epic moments, but his father just wanted him to be a man of godly substance as he went.

3. Speaking of Substance

Jesus taught and preached as He went. While it was with great intention and perfect holiness, He seems to be cruising around without a schedule: sleeping in a boat, eating dinner with drunks and sex workers, chastising mean religious people. In the gospels, Jesus is journeying through life.

Jesus’ in between changed the world. It is where He demonstrated His perfect obedience to the law, a status which He offers to grant us through faith in Him. It is where He healed, and taught, and loved. 

But I will say it was leading to a very big moment. His in between was leading Him to be crucified in between two actual criminals. His comings and goings were leading up to a moment of sacrifice for sinners like us. 

And it kept getting bigger. The curtain in the temple tore in two, which is a sound hard to imagine. The sky went black. And then, somehow, Jesus’ tomb was vacant. And then Jesus showed up, fully alive after being fully dead. 

He showed up to ordinary people living their ordinary lives so they might live with extraordinary purpose — for and through Him. 

4. The Call

The call of Christ is not to conquer, but to go. He is the conqueror, the hero of the big moments. We dare not take His place. 

Jesus deploys us into the in-between moments in our lives, the ones where it feels like no one is looking and life may be boring, uncomfortable, and laden with responsibility. It is these moments which, when lived by faith, honor and glorify Jesus. We are ambassadors for Christ, and He is making His appeal through us. Not through a microphone, not through a platform — through a life. A real, actual, ordinary life.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul charges us to “aspire to live quietly”. To live a simple, humble life of faithfulness to Christ in our homes, schools, and workplaces. To simply be an embodied disciple of Jesus. 

If we grasp the magnitude of the cross of Christ and His vindicating resurrection, we will realize this is the big moment of our lives. Yes, it is a moment that happened before our lives — but this is the moment which gives us life. And now we don’t have to grab for a microphone or try to go viral or plan the best mountain trip ever to be truly happy, fulfilled, and purposeful. We can simply move into the next moment in our in between, knowing He is there with joy and ministry which He prepared for us before the foundation of the world. 

Stop living for what’s next, and start living.