As I drive back and forth from home to the church I serve I pass by another church which has, on its lawn, a sort of tri-cornered sign. On one of the panels of this sign there is a picture of an Advent candle with the words, “Hope,” “Joy,” “Love,” and “Peace” (a typical Advent display) but then on a small banner underneath this Advent panel it reads, “Now with extended hours.”
I know where the Advent candle panel came from. We are still in the liturgical season of Advent; a time when we are supposed to prepare our lives for the coming of the Savior and so many churches have something “adventish” displayed somewhere either inside or, as in this case, on the church lawn. I also have some insight into the “extended hours” banner. I’ve been up and down this road enough to know that this church also runs a day care and the day care program now has extended hours.
So, it is my assumption that these two signs were not intended to be connected they just are displayed that way. At first I thought of this display as simply humorous but as I’ve thought more about it I’ve decided to take it as a bit of serendipity.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we would (or could) extend the amount of time we spend living out our hope and joy and love and peace? Just think about how our lives and our personal world would change if we spent more time hopefully, joyfully, lovingly and peacefully living our lives for people to see.
And on the other side of this conversation, wouldn’t it be nice if we could be certain that when we needed someone to love us or smile for us or say a hopeful word to us that it would be readily available because they were operating on extended hours?
Our lives can be so easily tied up in petty problems and momentary irritations that we miss all of the good things that are happening around us. Maybe it’s time to take the cell phone out of our ear and pay attention to all of the little bits of wisdom (even unintentional wisdom) that are lining the roadways of our lives. You might find something that will wake you up to a new way of living and the world will be a better place because of it.
It kind of reminds me of a baby in a manger and a world that was never the same. It was almost as if God were saying, “Hope, Joy, Love, and Peace now with extended hours.”
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
It's Christmas. Isn't It Wonderful?
I mentioned in last Sunday morning’s conversation that my mother hasn’t put up any kind of Christmas tree for years. The only thing that would suggest that my mother is celebrating Christmas is the nativity scene, a set that has always been a part of our family’s Christmas, which she has set up on her kitchen table. It’s not that she isn’t into Christmas it’s just that she doesn’t have a huge need to fill her apartment with lights and bulbs.
It’s possible that part of her attitude toward Christmas decorations goes back to her childhood. She told me that when she was a child there were no decorations in their home until Christmas day. Santa Claus brought everything with him on Christmas Eve and so she woke up on Christmas morning to a house that had been transformed overnight. Her childhood Christmas tree had candles instead of electric lights and they were only lit for a very brief time so she didn’t really have a lot of childhood memories of rooms full of Christmas baubles.
To be fair, my mother isn’t the only one who has decided not to over decorate for the holidays. I’ve run into a number of people (mostly older people) who have decided they didn’t want to bother with a tree and lights and I’m OK with all of that. After all we keep trying to remind people that Christmas is about more than the decorations and the parties.
However, over the years I have always thought it was kind of sad to not decorate for the day, which gives you an idea of how important the lights and baubles have become to me. It’s not that I need them “spiritually.” I don’t need lights and balls and evergreens to celebrate the birth of Jesus. My relationship with Him is not built upon tradition; it is built upon a spiritual connection that is bigger than anything I can hold in my hand.
But, I am afraid that I need them “emotionally.” They have become a link to the memories I have of Christmases past. In my head they are attached to footie pajamas, transformers and Nintendo games; to times when my children were small and there was wonder in their eyes. It’s kind of scary to think that strings of lights and balls of glass can have such a hold on my life, but they do.
The challenge for me (and maybe for all of us) is to keep the spiritual and the emotional parts of our lives straight. It doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice one in order to have the other, it just means that we need to see them for what they are. Like my mother, I don’t need the decorations to celebrate the birth of my Savior, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important.
It might be best to remember that we are all complicated creatures and that Jesus understands the complications and is still willing to work in us, with us and through us. It’s Christmas. Isn’t it wonderful?
It’s possible that part of her attitude toward Christmas decorations goes back to her childhood. She told me that when she was a child there were no decorations in their home until Christmas day. Santa Claus brought everything with him on Christmas Eve and so she woke up on Christmas morning to a house that had been transformed overnight. Her childhood Christmas tree had candles instead of electric lights and they were only lit for a very brief time so she didn’t really have a lot of childhood memories of rooms full of Christmas baubles.
To be fair, my mother isn’t the only one who has decided not to over decorate for the holidays. I’ve run into a number of people (mostly older people) who have decided they didn’t want to bother with a tree and lights and I’m OK with all of that. After all we keep trying to remind people that Christmas is about more than the decorations and the parties.
However, over the years I have always thought it was kind of sad to not decorate for the day, which gives you an idea of how important the lights and baubles have become to me. It’s not that I need them “spiritually.” I don’t need lights and balls and evergreens to celebrate the birth of Jesus. My relationship with Him is not built upon tradition; it is built upon a spiritual connection that is bigger than anything I can hold in my hand.
But, I am afraid that I need them “emotionally.” They have become a link to the memories I have of Christmases past. In my head they are attached to footie pajamas, transformers and Nintendo games; to times when my children were small and there was wonder in their eyes. It’s kind of scary to think that strings of lights and balls of glass can have such a hold on my life, but they do.
The challenge for me (and maybe for all of us) is to keep the spiritual and the emotional parts of our lives straight. It doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice one in order to have the other, it just means that we need to see them for what they are. Like my mother, I don’t need the decorations to celebrate the birth of my Savior, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important.
It might be best to remember that we are all complicated creatures and that Jesus understands the complications and is still willing to work in us, with us and through us. It’s Christmas. Isn’t it wonderful?
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Taking Time To Get Ready
I grew up on the north side of La Crosse, two blocks from what came to be called the Caledonia Street Shopping Center. It was actually the business district from a time when North La Crosse had been a separate city. There was a hardware store and a pharmacy, a movie theater and a “five and dime.”
Everything you needed was right there, nestled into two blocks on Caledonia Street.
Every year, in early November, someone would put up a little red house in an empty lot next to the Klinkner & Jensen’s shoe store. This was Santa’s house and all of us knew that when the little red house appeared that Christmas was coming.
Santa’s house was important because Christmas was important and Christmas was important because of all of the stuff that came along with it. It wasn’t just presents (although that was a big part of it) because there were decorations and celebrations and food that were part of Christmas that we never saw during the rest of the year. There was a lot to get excited about.
Advent (the four Sundays prior to Christmas) is a time that the church has set aside to help us prepare for Jesus’ coming into the world. Like Santa’s house it is supposed to remind us that something wonderful is soon to arrive.
If you’re like me, you will still get a bit excited as you put up the decorations, plan for the celebrations and prepare those special foods that are part of this season. But it seems to me that this is the reason we need a time like Advent in our lives. If we aren’t careful we will get so caught up in these seasonal memories that we won’t have any time or room for Jesus. How ironic is that?
So, I offer this reflection early (even before we’ve gotten to Thanksgiving) because I have a feeling that we could all use an extra bit of time to prepare our hearts and lives for what should be one of the most precious moments in our year.
We will still plan to light the Advent candles (in Church and hopefully as families) and set out our nativity sets (and remember all of the players in this beautiful story) and remind ourselves again that there is something, even more wonderful, coming that we can be excited about. At Christmas God became a human being and loved us like we’ve never been loved before.
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. +Luke 2:11
When a celebration is as important to us as Christmas is we want to make sure that we take whatever time is required to get our hearts and our heads in the right place. Let us begin.
Everything you needed was right there, nestled into two blocks on Caledonia Street.
Every year, in early November, someone would put up a little red house in an empty lot next to the Klinkner & Jensen’s shoe store. This was Santa’s house and all of us knew that when the little red house appeared that Christmas was coming.
Santa’s house was important because Christmas was important and Christmas was important because of all of the stuff that came along with it. It wasn’t just presents (although that was a big part of it) because there were decorations and celebrations and food that were part of Christmas that we never saw during the rest of the year. There was a lot to get excited about.
Advent (the four Sundays prior to Christmas) is a time that the church has set aside to help us prepare for Jesus’ coming into the world. Like Santa’s house it is supposed to remind us that something wonderful is soon to arrive.
If you’re like me, you will still get a bit excited as you put up the decorations, plan for the celebrations and prepare those special foods that are part of this season. But it seems to me that this is the reason we need a time like Advent in our lives. If we aren’t careful we will get so caught up in these seasonal memories that we won’t have any time or room for Jesus. How ironic is that?
So, I offer this reflection early (even before we’ve gotten to Thanksgiving) because I have a feeling that we could all use an extra bit of time to prepare our hearts and lives for what should be one of the most precious moments in our year.
We will still plan to light the Advent candles (in Church and hopefully as families) and set out our nativity sets (and remember all of the players in this beautiful story) and remind ourselves again that there is something, even more wonderful, coming that we can be excited about. At Christmas God became a human being and loved us like we’ve never been loved before.
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. +Luke 2:11
When a celebration is as important to us as Christmas is we want to make sure that we take whatever time is required to get our hearts and our heads in the right place. Let us begin.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
A Child In The Best Possible Way
I recently finished up (hopefully) raking and bagging 40 bags of leaves. It was quite a switch for me because the house we moved from had a row of pine trees in the back (read that as no leaves) and one small maple tree in the front yard and most of those leaves blew away before I ever got a chance to pick up a rake. The house we live in now has a nice selection of mature trees, which provide good shade in the summer and good exercise in the Fall. I should have seen it coming.
When I was 10, leaves were all about playing. We would rake up huge piles of leaves just so we could jump in them. Once we got tired of jumping we would spread them out into rows and move the rows around to make the outline of a house (complete with leaf furniture) and then pretend to live there.
When I was a child, the falling leaves were something to celebrate, but today those same leaves have become mostly a nuisance. The leaves haven’t changed. They still smell the same and they still crackle when you step on them. The only thing that has changed is me.
So, I began asking myself, “Is this what it means to get old? Have I become so jaded to the world around me that I no longer have a sense of wonder in my soul; a bit of whimsy in my life?” I’m afraid the answer might be, “yes.”
I tell myself that I’ve just gotten responsible and that this is called “maturity.” I tell myself that this is what is supposed to happen but then I remember that Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17) and I wonder about losing touch with the child I once was.
Then, it struck me that part of my Christian journey might be to re-learn something that I once intuitively knew but have lost along the way. The real issue might not have anything to do with being old or having an abundance of leaves. The real issue might be how much I trust Jesus.
I (like so many others) may have simply decided to let the challenges of life dictate my response to life. Without really thinking about it I’m afraid that I have said to God that He can take a break because I've got it handled and then I come to those reflective moments when I realize just how much of a burden that really is. I'm starting to have sympathy for the OT people of Israel.
To jump or not jump is not the question. To trust or not to trust is. I think I want to be a child again, in the best possible way.
When I was 10, leaves were all about playing. We would rake up huge piles of leaves just so we could jump in them. Once we got tired of jumping we would spread them out into rows and move the rows around to make the outline of a house (complete with leaf furniture) and then pretend to live there.
When I was a child, the falling leaves were something to celebrate, but today those same leaves have become mostly a nuisance. The leaves haven’t changed. They still smell the same and they still crackle when you step on them. The only thing that has changed is me.
So, I began asking myself, “Is this what it means to get old? Have I become so jaded to the world around me that I no longer have a sense of wonder in my soul; a bit of whimsy in my life?” I’m afraid the answer might be, “yes.”
I tell myself that I’ve just gotten responsible and that this is called “maturity.” I tell myself that this is what is supposed to happen but then I remember that Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17) and I wonder about losing touch with the child I once was.
Then, it struck me that part of my Christian journey might be to re-learn something that I once intuitively knew but have lost along the way. The real issue might not have anything to do with being old or having an abundance of leaves. The real issue might be how much I trust Jesus.
I (like so many others) may have simply decided to let the challenges of life dictate my response to life. Without really thinking about it I’m afraid that I have said to God that He can take a break because I've got it handled and then I come to those reflective moments when I realize just how much of a burden that really is. I'm starting to have sympathy for the OT people of Israel.
To jump or not jump is not the question. To trust or not to trust is. I think I want to be a child again, in the best possible way.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Gratitude
The following is a summary of the conversation we had last Sunday.
The word for today is “grateful.” We are called to be followers of Jesus Christ, which means that we are all in the process of deciding if we are ready and willing to actually follow. But, the reality is that we won’t follow a stranger. This means that following Jesus begins with a relationship. We experience His presence in our lives and we learn to trust Him more and more every day.
What this means is that everything we do in Church should help us to build our relationship to the living God. In fact, the ultimate goal is for us to become like Him and He has made the way for this new life.So, from time to time we gather together to celebrate this relationship and our transformation and this is what we call “WORSHIP.”
The word that should define everything we do in the Church is “GRATEFUL.” Worship was never meant to be an educational program and it was never meant to be a spectator sport. Worship is each of us individually coming together corporately to declare that we are “forever grateful” for all that God has done for us. Worship is not about us but it says something about us. When we give up our time to be in worship we are making a statement about what is valuable to us. Being in Church (or staying home) are both statements we make about what is important.
And this is the continual challenge we face. If our goal is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, how is that love expressed? If we actually love the Lord with everything we have how do we measure that love? If I keep saying that I love potato salad but never eat potato salad wouldn’t you wonder what I meant by that statement? If I said that I love football but never watched football or played football wouldn’t you want to know what football really meant to me? If I say that I love God and it doesn’t affect the way I talk and act and the way I spend my time and my money wouldn’t you want to know what I mean when I make that claim? Our friends want to know!
What I’m getting to is that at some point our conversation about love has to become pragmatic. What am I willing to do because I love the Lord MY God with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength? What sacrifices am I willing to make because I love my neighbor as I love myself? The offering is not us just paying the bills. The offering is me trying to put into real, meaningful terms how much I love Jesus. In that sense, the offering may be the most significantly spiritual moment in the entire worship gathering because it is me putting into real terms what my love for Him really means.
What you and I give should have nothing to do with what your Church’s annual budget is. You and I should give out of thanksgiving for what God has done (and is doing) in our lives. You and I should give because we love Jesus more than we love anything else. In order for me to be thankful my giving has to mean something to me. It’s not enough that I gave more than you did. That misses the whole point. What I give has to mean something to me or it means nothing at all.
I’ve always thought that a tithe was a good place to begin the conversation. Julie and I have been “tithers” for our entire married life even when we had nothing, even when we were raising three small children, even when we had to borrow money to pay our taxes God deserved our love and thanksgiving. It wasn’t always much and it was never enough but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make. It meant something to us. I can imagine that there are people in the world for whom a tithe wouldn’t mean anything at all and for those people a tithe wouldn’t be enough.
My mother is 94 years old and she lives on social security and a small pension my father had from his years with the police department in La Crosse. Last time we talked about it, my mother was giving $20 each week to her local church. Sadly enough, at the time I think that made my mother one of the largest givers to her local church. She gives because she’s thankful.
Every day we express our thanksgiving and as we do there are a number of principles that we need to pay attention to.
“…of him who has much, much will be expected.” (Luke 12:48)
“…the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly” (2 Cor. 9:6)
“You cannot serve both God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13)
It is always about being thankful.
The word for today is “grateful.” We are called to be followers of Jesus Christ, which means that we are all in the process of deciding if we are ready and willing to actually follow. But, the reality is that we won’t follow a stranger. This means that following Jesus begins with a relationship. We experience His presence in our lives and we learn to trust Him more and more every day.
What this means is that everything we do in Church should help us to build our relationship to the living God. In fact, the ultimate goal is for us to become like Him and He has made the way for this new life.So, from time to time we gather together to celebrate this relationship and our transformation and this is what we call “WORSHIP.”
The word that should define everything we do in the Church is “GRATEFUL.” Worship was never meant to be an educational program and it was never meant to be a spectator sport. Worship is each of us individually coming together corporately to declare that we are “forever grateful” for all that God has done for us. Worship is not about us but it says something about us. When we give up our time to be in worship we are making a statement about what is valuable to us. Being in Church (or staying home) are both statements we make about what is important.
And this is the continual challenge we face. If our goal is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, how is that love expressed? If we actually love the Lord with everything we have how do we measure that love? If I keep saying that I love potato salad but never eat potato salad wouldn’t you wonder what I meant by that statement? If I said that I love football but never watched football or played football wouldn’t you want to know what football really meant to me? If I say that I love God and it doesn’t affect the way I talk and act and the way I spend my time and my money wouldn’t you want to know what I mean when I make that claim? Our friends want to know!
What I’m getting to is that at some point our conversation about love has to become pragmatic. What am I willing to do because I love the Lord MY God with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength? What sacrifices am I willing to make because I love my neighbor as I love myself? The offering is not us just paying the bills. The offering is me trying to put into real, meaningful terms how much I love Jesus. In that sense, the offering may be the most significantly spiritual moment in the entire worship gathering because it is me putting into real terms what my love for Him really means.
What you and I give should have nothing to do with what your Church’s annual budget is. You and I should give out of thanksgiving for what God has done (and is doing) in our lives. You and I should give because we love Jesus more than we love anything else. In order for me to be thankful my giving has to mean something to me. It’s not enough that I gave more than you did. That misses the whole point. What I give has to mean something to me or it means nothing at all.
I’ve always thought that a tithe was a good place to begin the conversation. Julie and I have been “tithers” for our entire married life even when we had nothing, even when we were raising three small children, even when we had to borrow money to pay our taxes God deserved our love and thanksgiving. It wasn’t always much and it was never enough but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make. It meant something to us. I can imagine that there are people in the world for whom a tithe wouldn’t mean anything at all and for those people a tithe wouldn’t be enough.
My mother is 94 years old and she lives on social security and a small pension my father had from his years with the police department in La Crosse. Last time we talked about it, my mother was giving $20 each week to her local church. Sadly enough, at the time I think that made my mother one of the largest givers to her local church. She gives because she’s thankful.
Every day we express our thanksgiving and as we do there are a number of principles that we need to pay attention to.
“…of him who has much, much will be expected.” (Luke 12:48)
“…the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly” (2 Cor. 9:6)
“You cannot serve both God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13)
It is always about being thankful.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Now All We Need Is A Marching Band
I was watching the Badger game on Saturday (before running off to Church for a wedding) and I found myself fascinated (again) with the sheer energy of the game and it had nothing to do with what was happening on the field.
There were thousands of people (a sea of Badger red) jumping and screaming and cheering on the team and I know that this scene (except for the Badger red) was being replayed all over the country and I began wondering (not for the first time) what it was, about this game or this setting, that generated this kind of excitement.
My first thought, and the easy answer, was “beer.” Why else would people pay anywhere from $50 to $300 a ticket to spend three hours outdoors on metal bench seats in the cold and the rain and be glad for the opportunity? Intoxication would explain a lot of that behavior but the problem with my “beer theory” is that I personally know people who are practical “teetotalers” and are just as fanatical as anyone else.
The real question I want answered (a question you hear preachers use from time to time) is why are we so willing to act like fools for a game but never express that same kind of passion for Jesus?
I’m guessing here, but I suspect that the difference between the game and Jesus is that we know that the game doesn’t really matter and contrariwise we intuitively know that Jesus is important (or at the very least could be important) and we don’t want to mess this up.
What we have with the game is confidence. What we don’t have with Jesus is confidence. What Jesus came to provide for us is confidence in Him.
Jesus said to the paralytic, “…that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Luke 5:24
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “…believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” John 10:38
The Apostle Paul said, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” Ephesians 1:18
When we KNOW Jesus forgiveness in our lives, when we KNOW He is able to change things, when we really KNOW “the hope to which he has called” us then we can begin to dance and shout and sing in a whole new way and we might even begin to think of ourselves as Jesus’ FANS. We are supposed to KNOW. Now all we need is a marching band.
There were thousands of people (a sea of Badger red) jumping and screaming and cheering on the team and I know that this scene (except for the Badger red) was being replayed all over the country and I began wondering (not for the first time) what it was, about this game or this setting, that generated this kind of excitement.
My first thought, and the easy answer, was “beer.” Why else would people pay anywhere from $50 to $300 a ticket to spend three hours outdoors on metal bench seats in the cold and the rain and be glad for the opportunity? Intoxication would explain a lot of that behavior but the problem with my “beer theory” is that I personally know people who are practical “teetotalers” and are just as fanatical as anyone else.
The real question I want answered (a question you hear preachers use from time to time) is why are we so willing to act like fools for a game but never express that same kind of passion for Jesus?
I’m guessing here, but I suspect that the difference between the game and Jesus is that we know that the game doesn’t really matter and contrariwise we intuitively know that Jesus is important (or at the very least could be important) and we don’t want to mess this up.
What we have with the game is confidence. What we don’t have with Jesus is confidence. What Jesus came to provide for us is confidence in Him.
Jesus said to the paralytic, “…that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Luke 5:24
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “…believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” John 10:38
The Apostle Paul said, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” Ephesians 1:18
When we KNOW Jesus forgiveness in our lives, when we KNOW He is able to change things, when we really KNOW “the hope to which he has called” us then we can begin to dance and shout and sing in a whole new way and we might even begin to think of ourselves as Jesus’ FANS. We are supposed to KNOW. Now all we need is a marching band.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Maroon Car Jesus
The other day I was driving down National Ave. when a maroon car with a Jesus fish on the trunk and a cross decal in the rear window made a right turn without stopping and pulled in front of me. I applied the brakes to keep from ending up in “maroon car’s” back seat and then spent the next few minutes following this car and thinking about what it means to be a witness for Jesus.
Two blocks later we stopped at a red light and the person in the maroon car turned right at the red light so that they could turn left into a bank parking lot and then back onto the road, breaking traffic laws, in an effort to bypass the light. It worked, in the sense that the maroon car with Jesus on the back got where it wanted to go without getting stopped by an officer of the law, but it didn’t go unnoticed. Someone is always paying attention.
This is the lesson that all of we who follow Jesus need to understand and apply. When we claim Jesus as our Savior we take on the responsibility of representing Jesus in the world and someone is always paying attention. This means that every word we say, every thing we do, every trip we take, and every dollar we spend is a statement that is being read by someone. This means that our entire lives needs to be laid as a sacrifice on His altar.
Now, I understand that there are extenuating circumstances that no one but God will see or understand and it’s possible that “maroon car Jesus” may have been desperately trying to get to the hospital because of some family emergency but that doesn’t release me from my commitment. My relationship to Jesus needs to be more than just a set of sacred songs or a holy litany performed in a congregation. My faith has to go beyond Sunday or Christmas or Easter and be embodied in the ordinary things of my every day life. Until my relationship to Jesus becomes the core of who I am it hasn’t become what it needs to be.
I expect it is possible that one day it will be my turn to be that one who is rushing to the hospital and when that time comes I know that God will understand if my life (in that moment) doesn’t adequately reflect his love made real. I hope that those who see my desperation won’t blame my failure on Jesus.
But, today, I need to live my life as if someone is watching because someone is.
Two blocks later we stopped at a red light and the person in the maroon car turned right at the red light so that they could turn left into a bank parking lot and then back onto the road, breaking traffic laws, in an effort to bypass the light. It worked, in the sense that the maroon car with Jesus on the back got where it wanted to go without getting stopped by an officer of the law, but it didn’t go unnoticed. Someone is always paying attention.
This is the lesson that all of we who follow Jesus need to understand and apply. When we claim Jesus as our Savior we take on the responsibility of representing Jesus in the world and someone is always paying attention. This means that every word we say, every thing we do, every trip we take, and every dollar we spend is a statement that is being read by someone. This means that our entire lives needs to be laid as a sacrifice on His altar.
Now, I understand that there are extenuating circumstances that no one but God will see or understand and it’s possible that “maroon car Jesus” may have been desperately trying to get to the hospital because of some family emergency but that doesn’t release me from my commitment. My relationship to Jesus needs to be more than just a set of sacred songs or a holy litany performed in a congregation. My faith has to go beyond Sunday or Christmas or Easter and be embodied in the ordinary things of my every day life. Until my relationship to Jesus becomes the core of who I am it hasn’t become what it needs to be.
I expect it is possible that one day it will be my turn to be that one who is rushing to the hospital and when that time comes I know that God will understand if my life (in that moment) doesn’t adequately reflect his love made real. I hope that those who see my desperation won’t blame my failure on Jesus.
But, today, I need to live my life as if someone is watching because someone is.
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