Waiting for those crashes...

My husband is a closet NASCAR fan. Well, not any more. LOL. Obviously, I am not. Not that I have anything against NASCAR or their fans, it’s just that I don’t understand watching cars go around in a circle as fast as they can.

Sometimes I stand and watch for a minute to try and understand what I’m missing. Sometimes I use that an opportunity to ask a really dumb question, like, “What do you meant there’s M & Ms in the car? Gee, do they let them eat in the car?” My husband was clueless. I pressed him, I mean, it’s his sport, right then he should know these things. Come to find out it was the “in car camera” on the M & M car. Truly, I need a clue.

But, finally, in one swift moment, I got it and turned to my husband and say, “You are sitting here watching this and waiting for a crash to happen!” After a prolonged debate, he conceded the point, sort of.

Watching for the crashes in life is why we have to gawk at traffic accidents, no matter the size. It certainly contributes to what makes downhill skiing and cross skiing so heart pounding to watch. Why on earth do they plummet down a mountain of ice and snow (slippery stuff) at a crazy speed on two sticks? If you are successful at it and go faster than anyone else, you get the medal. If you crash, well, it makes for great cable footage. Both winners and crashers get the attention. Both survivors and those who either do or do not make it out of the wreckage of their lives, get attention.

And here’s my prayer (you knew I’d get to something like this, didn’t you?)… that our fascination for watching the crashes in life would move beyond being spectators to being the ones who help people whose lives are a wreck. I would pray that our hearts would ache to the point of action, whether that be prayer or actual face-to-face, hand-in-hand compassion. 

Be blessed in the Lord this day!

What Stops you?

This past week at seminary was wonderful. And I wanted to share something that really grabbed me. For some, this is a well-known story from Scripture. But our professor offered us a different place from which to view the passage. So, I took her perspective and I’ve run with it a bit. J

Jesus is using your home as a classroom and it is standing room only. Imagine, perhaps, it’s like shopping the day after Thanksgiving where everyone is after that prized possession, at a deeply discounted price.

It’s a little unnerving having so many in your home and you wonder about those outside who just might be standing in your landscaping beds when, suddenly, you hear noises and pounding from above. Then, pieces of the roof begin to rain on your head as well as on the heads of everyone trying to listen to Jesus. Oh, and on His head as well. Wow.

You’d run outside, struggling to get through the swarm of people to see exactly what is going on and, much to your dismay, there are people on the roof tearing it apart! Does homeowner’s insurance cover this sort of thing? Maybe the insurance company would view this as an act of God? Maybe not! Oh, evay!

Elbowing your way back into your house, you’d see sunshine beaming right into the living room. But then, the rays of sunlight are darkened again as the hole in the roof is covered. What on earth is going on??

Then, slowly down it comes: a person on a mat, in obvious physical need. His friends peer down as he is lowered into the center of the room, before all of us and most importantly, before the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, that leads to the question of the day: How many of us would so value getting our friend to Jesus that NOTHING would stop us?

Be blessed!