Life as Spiritual History -or- A Tip of the Hat to Vonnegut, Foer, and Jason Powers

Kyle articulated this idea for me in his Revangelism series, the idea that everyone has some type of "spiritual history," whether they are over-churched refugees or uber-intellectual atheists. I knew this to be true through my experiences in high school with my buddies who would not have been categorized as "God-people" or striving for the "sacred" by my previous CD burning measuring stick... but they still were the individuals rich with faith and struggle and whether they knew it or not, relationship with God. Kyle's words articulated and validated this for me.
My favorite part of viewing life as spiritual history is that it allows even the negative to be redeemed. When you decide to have a little road rage and almost get in a fight with a man who turns out to be an off-duty police officer and spend the night in jail, you need to be able to redeem that (yes, it's true, summer after my freshman year). When you decide to start following the Phish, partake in substances, and start practicing Buddhism (not me, not me, not me)(sorry Jason...) you need to be able to redeem that. When you sit in a hospital bathroom and try to cut a deal with God to keep someone you love alive a little longer, you need to be able to redeem that. When someone you love dies, when you experience the side effects of Death in all its forms, you need to be able to redeem that.
You don't have to love or be happy about all things in your past (particularly jail time, the death of loved ones, or any other number of horrible, Vonnegutian life-things), but you should be able to respect your past in some sort of way as a Christian. It is The Path. It is your story. And it can be amazing to recognize the presence of God, albeit difficult some places, in every moment and space of history. It certainly makes God a lot bigger and complicated than what the static-cling, felt board Jesus offers.
What if God didn't necessarily cause all moments to happen, but was fully present in all moments... "in the very air around us." What if our sordid pasts are Holy Ground? What if these pasts have something to offer, or have "illumintaion to spread on the 'now'". Maybe we can look at our pasts and do a little dumpster-diving... Some of the things we threw out deserve to stay there, but what if there are other moments that are redeemable, that God is saying... "that was me! you were seeing me! you were hearing me! see, I have been here always waiting for you to recognize me!"
That is a theology that I can accept. A theology that doesn't haphazardly put stamps of approval on all events in all times; but instead, a theology that invites us to recognize the big and complicated God that humbly wore skin and humbly awaits our recognition.
At the very least, this makes me sleep easier. It doesn't try to infuse a false "purpose" for things, but points to an undeniable presence and an other-than-ness bigger than all of our junk.