"CLEANUP TIME!" I yelled across a room full of kids. My words sent the motion in action as they began shuffling loudly about. Candyland was thrown into the box. Jenga was toppled. Dirty paper plates - the remains of our dinner of tacos - were thrown into the garbage and kids raced to the counter for one more slice of apple. Julian chased Davonshay around the room, wanting his ball back. But somehow the tables were cleared, juice spills mopped and every child was soon sitting in a big huddle anxious to hear more of the story that most of them had never heard before. For two years of our lives here in the neighborhood we've traveled through thirty-three years of Jesus' time on earth. From temptations to teachings and miracles to murder. Finally we'd arrived at the moments before Jesus' crucifixion.

"Anybody remember what we learned about last week?" Hands shot up and I chose a little boy, "David?"

"Jesus' friend…he gave up on him."

I've never heard it said so well. We always speak of it in a shocked voice, "Judas betrayed Jesus." Indeed Judas did betray him, but that seems so vile as if it were something we could never do. But to give up on God, that puts it right back in our laps. For me, at least. We give up on him all the time.

And it's subtle. I believe in God, that's easy. It's culturally correct, it's even slightly romantic. But I sometimes fail to believe in anything more than the God I've created in my mind. He's manageable, comprehendible…a bigger, brighter version of the best of humanity. But a God like that can't do much more than be tame inside our heads. We can get away with faithlessness and lukewarm morality, pluralism and tolerance. We have created an excuse but - in the words of David - given up on God. The true God.

Humanity suddenly looks golden as we gradually deflate the holiness out of God. He becomes flat, one-sided and we become spiritually bankrupt. The world is no longer alarmed by the presence of God's people. During Old Testament times, when Israel was following God wholeheartedly, they were the terror of the land. People were scared of the Deity who filled their temples and tents. Even when Jesus came to earth and mixed mercy and compassion with that justice, he still consistently "freaked" people out. He was asked to leave towns, he was accused of cohorting with demons and defiling generations of "religious rites". His faithful predecessor, John the Baptizer, was thrown in prison and later beheaded. Not only did Jesus' presence make some people uneasy, it made them angry. He was poking holes in the social and religious norms. In the end his enemies killed him and his friends abandoned him. It is often easier to hate what we don't understand than to live in the tension and mystery of belief in Someone who can't be contained or explained by knowledge and reason.

So we killed Him. And the world that watched this odd drama unfold backed away from glory and thought it was the end of the story. But it was just the beginning. Jesus died, rose and his followers spread like wild fire. It was no longer a "Jewish problem" but now a holy mess that Rome had to clean up. They tried. They failed. God's people were imprisoned, fed to lions, burned and ravished. But they refused to give up on God. They had found Truth. And in finding Truth we realize that our very lives are nothing in comparison.

But now, some two thousand years later, we all sit in the same room and nod our heads tamely. You can believe whatever you want just as long as you don't ask me to believe the same. Allah is simply a different name for God. Religion is only a cultural phenomenon, not an absolute truth. In fact, absolute truth is irrelevant and dated. Find your own truth, seek your own peace with the god of your choice. Every sincere effort leads to god. But in fact, to deny absolute Truth is simply to say that you believe a Darwin sized load of irreconcilable contradictions. One man might not believe in gravity, another believes it's over-rated and a third believes that it's nothing more than part of our traditional myth. This doesn't mean that when they jump off the building that aren't going to break their bones and crack their heads. Gravity brings what's up down and concrete is hard. If you don't believe in absolute truth…try jumping off your roof. All conflicting beliefs, diverse moral roads and opposing enlightenments cannot be true at the same time. There is simply one way. Jesus Christ.

Our God is wholly different than the idols we bow down to in our heads. The true God is mighty. He defines His creation, His creation does not define Him. He cannot, will not, must not fit within the confines of our minds. He's given us the scriptures as just a taste of His justice, righteousness, mercy and holiness. He's granted us sharp minds to experience Him, not limit Him. Again and again He fiercely commands, gently whispers and mysteriously calls us to not give up on Him.

I am not an apologist, my words are surely full of holes. I'm just a girl whose life has been thrown upside down by the love of God. And I'm determined to not give up on Him. To cling to Truth because it is as precious to my soul as the air I breath is to my body. I believe in Jesus. heart, mind and soul. It is surely easier to give up on God than to defend Him, His high standards and His mysterious ways. But we must stand up or in fact we will have indeed betrayed our God. The time is now. Truth is real.

May the God we love give us the strength to keep our hearts constant, our minds sharp and our hands active in compassion.