I want to know Christ

and the power of his resurrection

and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,

becoming like him him in his death,

Philippians 3:10

I want to know... the heartfelt ache of the most influential figure in Christianity.  It's easy to think of him as the one who knew Jesus best, but of course he didn't really know him as a man at all.  He stood before those who had walked with him, who had laughed with him, who had touched the very hands of those he had healed.  He faced their doubts over his sincerity, their fears that he was only there to trap them, perhaps their disdain that he would have the gall to speak of Jesus at all. 

Was it the reason he worked so hard?  The reason he was so often impatient with them?  He longed to be where they had been, to know what they had known, as they longed for the lost moments, the misunderstanding of all the time they did have.

Hearts through the centuries, reaching toward heaven, longing for the day we can brush away the fog

and know him as he has known us.