Live IN the houseboat

I've heard Darrell discuss INness before, but I've always struggled to understand what that actually means or looks like.  What does it mean to be IN and not be like, or to be near/with.  I think of in light of the first sermon: to KNOW Jesus.  How do we know the true nature of something, to know what something is really like?  Using a houseboat, for example:

If I am LIKE a houseboat:  I can probably float on water, travel at an extremely tedious speed, and be extremely muscular (in that I can withstand the weight of 15-30 individuals on my roof!).  But being like a houseboat doesn't mean I am a houseboat, it doesn't mean I share the same characteristics, or even fully understanding the operational functions of the houseboat.

If I am NEAR/WITH a houseboat: I am probably somewhere in the vicinity, can probably see the houseboat and describe it's outer characteristics.  It has blue railings, a front/back deck, a gate, some windows, and the name of a church written in geechy-algae from twenty years ago, but I have no idea if there is anything inside.

But, If I am IN a houseboat: I can describe to you the features of the boat, can probably tell you how old it is, how it smells, if it is structurally stable, how it runs/operates, etc.  To be IN doesn't mean that we ARE a houseboat.  Adversely when we are called to be IN; IN Him we can do X, Y, and Z, it does not mean WE ARE.  It means we have gotten to a place, we have trekked long and hard, and no longer are we on the outside looking in.  We are not standing on the shore, or on the levy; we have entered in through the narrow gate and are now inside.  We are in tune, we can better understand His will because we see what the "boat" was meant for, not just what it looks like or what it can do.  

So often I am an outsider.  I stand on the shore and try to look inside.  I pray and act confused; God, what is your will for me?  What am I supposed to do?  Am I on the right track?  And he replies with, why don't you come on in and see for yourself?  I built this beautiful houseboat for you, NOT just to look at, but to LIVE IN.