Double-Stuf Showing Up

This is what I know to be true about this business of being human: it is primarily about showing up. Think about it. Remember the incarnation of God? He showed up. Here. With us. Nothing has been the same since. Even after Christ was supposedly dead and dealt with, He showed up again. And those of us who believe that He is coming one more time keep an eye cocked toward heaven. We are watching for movement this direction. Yes, we have been watching for over 2,000 years. Not to worry. We have plenty to keep us busy. Showing up is a fulltime job...

Poking your head into the hospital room to say, "Wanted to stop by." Even when stopping by means it took a plane, train, and automobile to get there. Dropping a meal off as you pinch the new baby's cheek. Slipping into a chair in the back as our newest employee gives her first presentation. Keeping vigil during the dark hours of a prodigal child...or brother...or father...or friend. Writing thank-you notes on good paper and mailing them with a stamp. Driving the youth group's scavenger hunt. All over town. Ending up with a stuffed armadillo in your backseat. Putting Metholatum under your nose and visiting your grandparents in the nursing home.

Taking your mom to the doctor. Month after month for years. Making a point to congratulate a job well done. Buying a sack of groceries for that poor graduate student or young pastor or student teacher or the person manning the Goodwill donation trailer. Leaving the sack, ringing the bell, and running away in anonymity.

Pursuing your teenager into the bowels of his room even after the door shuts in your face. Plying him with Double-Stuf Oreos until he talks. Laughing hysterically and sobbing hysterically, sometimes all at the same time together with someone else.

Stop reading these blogs and go show up in person somewhere. It will be shocking to most people. Talk about conformity to Christ.

Joni

Thawing Out in Kansas

This weekend I was in Ulysses, Kansas for a men's retreat on the coldest day of the year. The thermometer does not show the wind chill!

When I asked the men to consider ways in which they see the glory of God displayed in people, one of them grew very serious. Tears began to stream down his face as he told us his story. Where did he see God's glory displayed? In his little two year old grandson--the child of his unmarried daughter, the baby he thought he would never be able to love. The circumstances of his birth had been painful for all, but that little boy has been beautifully fashioned in the image of God to display His glory. Grandpa could finally see it, and through tears, he described the delight.

Regardless of the weather, the wind of the Spirit brings a thaw.

Bob