Fun House Mirror - Are we distorting Jesus?

I've been really slacking in trying to keep up a blog, but I've decided to try again!  Here goes!

At church the week after Easter, Kevin told our congregation about a new mission statement that we have for Spring of Life.  It is "Inviting you to a better life".    Who doesn't want that?  Who wouldn't want a better marriage, better parenting tips, better character, better financial situation, better life overall?   No one that I know.  I sometimes forget that some people who don't know Jesus don't even have the opportunity to see who He really is, because we don't portray Him well.  Have you ever seen yourself in one of those fun mirrors?  It is a mirror that takes your reflection (which in a real mirror is almost a perfect copy of yourself) and distorts it dramatically.  It may may you really short and stocky, or really skinny (I might have to carry that mirror around with me on a dolly), or really crooked.   If we claim to know Jesus, but don't live according to how He asks us to, people see a warped version of Jesus that really doesn't lead them to a "better life".  Jesus is the only way to better:)   Something to think about as we are making decisions about our lives and how we live them.  Who do you want to help lead to a better life with Jesus but may be hindering because of your lifestyle?  Time to start living what we believe!!  That's the challenge.

Hottest Month Ever

This August is the hottest month ever in Phoenix. I'm not just saying it's been really hot and I'm tired of it, which I am, but the weather lady said it's actually the hottest month EVER! It's really hot and annoying in Phoenix right now, over 110 degrees for the last 10 days. The kids can't even go out for recess (poor teachers)! So, I find myself complaining and reshuffling things so I don't have to be out in the heat and staying in when I should maybe be out.

Kinda like life:) When things get a little hot (or a lot hot:) I find myself complaining and reshuffling things to be out of the heat and staying inside. Is that what God wants from us? To run and hide when it's too hot to be out? Of course not. But...you say! I don't want to get heat stroke. That's a fair argument, heatstroke isn't especially fun. But neither is isolation and fear. God wants us to put on our sunscreen (or Satan screen, as the case may be) and pull up our big girl panties and get out in the heat where the action is. What are we waiting for...we've got the Son screen with the best protection ever!!

Ground Hog Day

One of Kevin's all time favorite movies is "Ground Hog Day". It's a very funny Bill Murray movie about a weatherman who has to go to Pennsylvania to be there when the ground hog comes up to see or not see his shadow. His character is a very shallow, very self absorbed man. So, when he gets to the town he is going to he seems to get the day all wrong. So... the next day he wakes up and it's a complete repeat of the first day. His day keeps repeating over and over. At first he uses this as an opportunity to figure out how to steal from the armored truck and do all kinds of ridiculous things.

But later in the movie, that starts to get old. Sound familiar? That's when he has an epiphany. Maybe, just maybe, I should use this day to figure out what is happening to those around me and make decisions that will be beneficial to those whom I come in contact with. Because he decides to see the world around him with this new set of eyes, he is able to save a man from choking to death, change tires for a little old lady, help a young man get the girl of his dreams (and give them tickets to wrestlemania) and so many more wonderful acts of kindness. He also, gets to use the time in bettering himself and learns to play piano like a concert pianist.

Doesn't this sound so much like real life? Of course, we don't wake up each day to the exact same day over and over... but we do have some repetition in life, that's just part of life. We go to work or school each day, we feed our kids, we grocery shop, we drive to work the same route, so many of the things in our day are routine. But the people we encounter are not. What if you could go back to yesterday and see what happened after it happened in your day. Would you do your day differently? Would you change how you treat people? Would you live your life better?

I hope that I would say no to this question. That I would be taking every opportunity that God places in front of me and doing the exact right thing. Of course, that wouldn't be a truthful statement... I'm human (I know that may surprise some of you:) But... what if we start to look at our days through the "Ground Hog Day" opportunity rose colored glasses? What if we saw each person that we encounter each and every day as a chance to show God's love in a real and tangible way? What if... we listened to God's still small voice each and every moment of the day and treat people the way that He would treat them? Can you imagine the change that would happen in our little corner of the world. Would you even be able to count the times that people would glimpse the real and true God through our actions?

Kevin challenged our church to do "random" and "intentional" acts of kindness on Groundhog Day this year. Grasp those fleeting moments of seeing a need and filling it and of finding a person and blessing them. Find the moments, create the moments... anything you can think of to be a blessing. I challenge you to spend the entire day looking at people and life as an opportunity, not a routine. "Happy Groundhog Day"!

Hey you... a child is born.. it's JESUS!

Jonah was in a play this December called "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Do you remember this book? Or the old movie with Loretta Swit? We rented it so the boys could see it. I vaguely remembered hearing the story before, but didn't remember it exactly. The basic story line is about a church's Christmas Pageant that has always been the same, year after year... the same girl playing Mary, the same boy playing Joseph. But this year the "bad" kids (a family of 5 kids) want to be in the pageant and EVERYONE thinks that it will be ruined.

Of course, we know that the happy ending must be fulfilled by the pageant being spectacular and the best ever, thus the title. But the story doesn't really come to fruition in the way that we might think it should. It's not just that the play is better than the year before, but that it's seen through different eyes.

The story is the same every year... never changing. It's always about Mary and Joseph and Jesus and the manger and a star and shepherds and angels and wise men. The difference has to be in how we see the story.

I saw this play several times (of course, because Jonah was in it). It's all humor and fun and laughing until the actual pageant begins and even then there is some humor. The wise men bring a ham (from their welfare basket), crisco oil and a fire truck toy. (You'll have to read the book to see why those gifts. The angel is hysterical... shouting "Hey, Hey... unto you a child is born...it's JESUS... go to the barn and see him"! But then the story takes a change in tone and the oldest of the 5 kids who is playing Mary (and these are kids that didn't even know the Christmas story before this) is sitting at the manger and begins to softly cry as she holds the baby Jesus. Since the show had been so humorous I did not expect to be moved, but I was in tears right along with her (as was most of the audience). Here was a young girl hearing the Christmas story for the very first time and reacting to the wonder of seeing and holding the baby Jesus (as though he were really Jesus). To see the wonder and beauty of the story through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time was incredibly moving.

And so, when I saw the play a second time, I was prepared for this section in the show and knew that I would be fine... but once again I was moved to tears, as was the entire audience (and several moms who were seeing it again:) Each time I saw it I was dissolved into a blubbering mess and as I contemplated this I came to a huge realization.

The reason that this was so moving to me, to see this young girl experience the joy and wonder of the birth of Jesus was that I hadn't felt that joy and wonder surrounding this event for a while. I have found myself becoming more cynical and more hard hearted as I get older and the amazing things about being a Christian do not always seem so amazing. I forget about the wonder of the birth of Jesus and what a miracle it was. Mary and Joseph alone and most likely afraid, giving birth in a stable and wrapping Jesus in "waddled up clothes" and laying Him in the manger. The shepherds hearing the angels, going to worship Jesus. The wise men, following the star and bringing gifts. It's all a miracle.

So this Christmas as I watched our "Christmas pageant" at church (really our Christmas Eve services, but our version of the pageant) I closed my eyes and listened to the story. I listened as though I'd never heard the story before. I heard the message and the music as if I'd never read a word about Mary and Joseph and Jesus! And I could hear the angel shouting "Hey, Hey... unto you a child is born...it's JESUS... go to the barn and see him"!

And I did!! And it was wondrous!