I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas.
We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent.
For this is still the time God chooses.
This last weekend I had the privilege to help take some young men and women to creative Christmas at the mark.
Creative Christmas is a conglomerate of talents that come together from a local church to put on a huge Christmas talent show, that contains (among other things) loud music, laser light show, pyrotechnics, and a drummer display. Perfect to bring young kids to right?
All in all it was a good show but there were times when even I was bored so it was no surprise when I would look over at one of the kids and they would be sleeping. When not in slumber, I was asked prying questions like:
"When are we going to eat?"
"Are those angels?"
"Does it smell like ribs in here?"
"What is that lady doing?"
"When is this going to be over?"
They asking questions kids ask, which sounds weird but these kids may not come from the best circumstances and may not act like kids all the time, but deep down inside they were kids.
They loved some of the music..."That was really good!"
They loved the lasers..."Will it hurt to touch them?"
They loved the pyrotechnics..."Ohhhhhhhhh!"
They loved the drummers..."Is that the Blue Man Group?"
Was I bored by the show? Some of it. But it was the kids that made the evening a very enjoyable one. They were kids being kids, though they could never admit to it. What I love about the evening and the kids would never know it, is as hard as some of those kids may seem, they brought me joy that evening.
Joy that God has placed on my heart from His children and I didn't even ask for it.
Do you ever go to buy some new clothes and you see something that you think could look good on you but when you hold it up to yourself you say, "It's just not me"? If someone came with you they may say it looks great on you or screams "You." You politely smile and say, "Really?" You look at it again, hold it up to yourself again and shrug in uncertainty.
Then you either put it back on the rack or reluctantly buy it. That piece of clothing then either spends its lifetime in a closet or you wear it only when you know that person is going to be around because they liked it (or they bought it for you).
This is a similar analogy how I feel about the Christian life and sometimes my own Christian life.
I know the life I want and need to live but sometimes it just doesn't seem to fit or feel right...I don't know exactly how to explain it.
We wear that 'shirt' because some people think we look good in it, but it just doesn't fit us. We wear the 'pants' because it's what we want to be like but still doesn't seem right for us.
And if we don't like how it looks, we just hang up the clothes (belief/faith) in a closet, pass by it once and a while, think about it every now again, but just don't want to wear it. But we know it's there.
Sometimes when I think about the whole scope of what Christianity is, I step back and say..."Wow, is this real? Do I really, truly believe any of this?" That sometimes I wander around and put on a "show" because that's what's expected of me. I can see the "ludicrousness" of how Christianity can be perceived that many people have, believe it or not.
After I process these thoughts, I understand them for just what they are...thoughts. Not doubts and not uncertainties. Just faith clouded by a society of disbelief and faithlessness.
This will be a battle I will continue to fight for the rest of my life, to figure out this Christianity "thing" and my place in His plan. But my bigger concern is more to continue to actively fight, not get passive or lazy in my pursuit, because that's when I fall.
I reflect on what has happened to me so far and the promises made to us all and find encouragement, hope and more importantly joy. I want my faith/hope/trust/joy to adorn and define me now.
The clothes are there, they look great on us and if we don't like it now, it will be there, waiting to clothe us in righteousness.
These are my prayers for myself and for you.
So how does the shirt fit? It's starting to grow on me.
I leave you with a quote I read on a good friend's blog, that has stuck with me.
“Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”
-George Seaton
(inspired by a discussion I recently had at small group - this is more of a "Wow, what a obvious concept, I should of thought of it like this before" moment)
You ever notice that a lot of people's stories, including mine on more then one occasion, say they came (back) to God when they were at the absolute bottom of their lives?
It's not a uncommon or bad thing in anyway.
At some point in our lives with God or without God we will hit rock bottom, usually more then once. Or we will deviate from the path that is set before us for whatever reason.
Then we will pick ourselves up or come back to the path and say something along the lines of, "Okay, I'm back, I'm sorry, let's try this again and this time I won't mess up."
Then we do again. And again. And again.
Sometimes it's by our choice and sometimes we can't control the circumstances, regardless its sucks...to put it politely. But some, not all, do make the choice to come back to God and its a understatement to say that's nothing short of awesome. And in many cases God uses these events/instances so you can find Him.
Tangent over.
Back to discussing my opening topic sentence...what if we never took that other path, wouldn't life be just a little bit easier?
Thank you Capitan Obvious.
I mean instead of waiting to hit rock bottom or deviating from the path, what if we stayed faithful, consistent, trustworthy? Sounds simple (it's not) but the repercussions alone scare the crap out of me...to poetically put it. We head down a bad path and come back, fantastic BUT we will bring back baggage with us and there will be some sort of consequence. Both of our "returning gifts" will not be good and will hurt us and potentially someone else.
Well then what about the circumstances we can't control?
Then we know Who to turn to when EVERYTHING falls apart, so we in turn, don't fall apart and head down a destructive path. We build a foundation on a rock, so during the storm we can rely on it and come back to it.
We tend to see all the benefits/blessings we have when we continue to strive toward God...but sometimes we should look back and also see that because we didn't take that other path we just saved ourselves (and sometimes others) a lot of hurt. And we thank God for not taking that path.
There are a lot of scripture verses out there regarding us following God, here is one of many. Be encouraged as I was.
I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.
Proverbs 4: 11 - 15
On another note, yes that is me in the DeWitt commercial...start that 15 minutes of fame.
