3-D

About a decade ago, 3-d images were all the rage. It seems that you couldn't enter a shopping mall without seeing a group of individuals, gathered around a picture while contorting themselves into all sorts of unnatural postures to find the hidden treasure. To my untrained eye there was never anything more than a canvas containing a million tiny pixels. But, if I observed the crowd long enough, some one would inevitably see the image, in their delight exclaim, "Oh, I see it. It's a B-2 bomber!", and then try to help everyone else see it. ("Close your left eye, and assume the Karate Kid pose.") To me, however, it remained mere dots on paper. I was one of the poor slobs that could never see it, try as I might. And, I really wanted to see it.

That's how it seems to be with faith in Christ. Once you've had a moment of "seeing" like Paul on the road to Damascus (who's seeing was ironically accompanied by the temporary loss of his eyesight) and Isaiah who's encounter with the living God made him also see himself for who he really was, there is no going back. Faith reveals the hidden treasure that once seen, there is no ability to unsee.

Though, I missed out on countless opportunities to see 3-d images leap off of canvases and share in the excitement of having seen them, I am so thankful for the privilege of daily encountering the living God who continues to reveal himself to me (no contortion, required). Like those individuals at the mall, I want everyone to see.

"Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."
Luke 10:25

"For the message of the cross if foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
1 Corinthians 1:18

Joy!

I heard this song again today, for the first time:

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

And that, friends, is the excellent gift of Christmas!

Monopoly

I have been thinking about the economy of our consumer culture compared to that popular board game introduced by Parker Brothers. My sister and I certainly spent countless hours of our childhood rolling the dice in pursuit of acquiring railroads, passing "Go" to collect two hundred dollars, and avoiding the luxury tax. But even though we were enraptured in the game while we were playing, I am not sure that our attention spans ever allowed us to play until someone actually won the game. After a while it became tedious, and one if not both of us grew bored beyond the desire to finish. At that point, we would pack it up, and moved on to something else.

In the economy, as in Monopoly, there are those that set their sights on Boardwalk and driven by the lust for vice, power, and control, will stop at nothing to get and remain there. The other players are usually in their debt and at their mercy. Others-who normally reside in Marvin Gardens- "Occupy Park Place"- railing against the inequities of the Boardwalk execs, despite planning their demonstrations using the technology and fueled by the coffee produced by the group against which they are demonstrating. If they don't want a piece of Boardwalk, they certainly don't want to be indebted to it. Yet they enjoy and consume amenities birthed by those corporations, perpetuating the status quo. Still others are a renting a place on Baltic Avenue looking to the lotto- Community Chest- or some other such windfall for help in acquiring what they want. While they may also often possess the lust for the things in the hands of the first group, the game has not been in their favor.

No matter where my sis and I found ourselves in that continuum in any given game, on any given day, of the many games that we shared, one thing was always the same. For me, once that board was folded, and the blue, pink, and green money was rubber banded together and put away, none of it counted. In the end, none of it was legal tender and the little green houses and red hotels were seen for the cheap plastic that they had always been. Outside of the game, none of my temporary acquisitions had any lasting value whether I had been the Scottie, the top hat, the iron, or the shoe.

"Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourself treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Mathew 6:19-21