LIVING THE PELICAN LIFE
POST TRIP
When you begin to genuinely follow
Jesus, your life changes. Everything
you thought you knew is reoriented. As
you begin to look at your community
through His eyes, your priorities shift.
Living the Pelican Life is based on a
very powerful metaphor; portraying
the sacricial life of Jesus and inspiring
us to do the same.
Legend has it that in times of famine,
the mother pelican would peck at
her own esh to feed her babies.
Effectively, she is willing to endure
pain and ultimately sacrice herself to
ensure her young have the opportunity
to live. It’s a gruesome image, but
the parallel to our Christian faith is
incredible. Jesus came to Earth during
a time when most of the world was
spiritually bankrupt. In fact, the Jews
(God’s chosen people) hadn’t heard
from God in more than 400 years.
During that time, they had been
conquered and reconquered multiple
times.
With each new ruling nation came
new cultural inuences, as well as new
societal and governmental pressures.
By the time Jesus arrived on Earth,
the Jews were ruled by the Romans,
and the religious leaders of the day
were more political than spiritual.
“Spirituality” was replaced by rules,
religion and classism. Jesus quite
literally stepped into this culture with
one purpose: to pay the ultimate
sacrice for our souls during a time
of spiritual famine. Like a mother
pelican, Jesus put His body through
immense pain and sacrice to give us
our best chance at life.
When Jesus sacriced Himself on
the cross, then rose from the dead,
the veil was torn, and we were given
free and direct access to God. We no
longer needed spiritual leaders to
“connect” our souls to the sustenance
we so desperately needed. In the
Jewish temples of the time, there was
a giant veil or curtain that separated
the outer areas of the temple from the
Holy of Holies. It was a place reserved
for a very select group of priests to
go and spend time in the presence of
God. Through Jesus’ sacricial work at
the cross, the veil was guratively and
literally torn, causing God’s presence
to spill out to His people.
We are living in a remarkable time in
which we have the opportunity to
freely engage with God. It’s a time
of spiritual abundance during which
our souls no longer have to receive
a rationing of God’s life-giving
presence. The Pelican Life is about
recognizing the sacrice Jesus made
for us and returning the favor by
pouring ourselves out to those who
have yet to drink from His well. It is
about following His lead and allowing
Him to dispense His power through
us.
Living the Pelican Life begins
when you take stock of your own
community. What is happening? Who
is a part of your community? Where
is there a need? Where do you feel
a pull towards people or problems?
The journey begins when you choose
to share the abundance of God’s love
and provision in your life with those
around you.
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