Cracked Teacups, Plastic Candlesticks & Plated Gold

            Have you ever been fooled by a masterful forgery? For instance, have you seen a beautiful bouquet of flowers and bent down to smell them only to discover they were wax? Or seen a friendly smile only to discover the person behind it was spreading rumors about you? When you fall prey to these cleaver imitations, how do you feel? Do you laugh that you were fooled? Do you feel sickened? Do you yield to cynicism? Do you turn away, disappointed and sad?

            There is a point to this questioning. I have found a truth that we, as Christians, often overlook. Everything that is good in this world is created by God, correct? So where does that leave the evil? I have a theory. You see, I believe that Satan, more than anything, wants to be like God (Isaiah 14:13-14). He wants to so much, that he will work to “create” as God has created. All that God made was good, including Satan who was an angel at one time. Satan is now a twisted, mangled version of what was once good. Does it not stand to reason that all that he “creates” will be merely perverted copies of God’s perfect creation? This concept is highly important when witnessing because many people believe a half-truth or part of a truth concerning God. They believe Him to be all loving and would never hurt a fly. They believe Him to be mean and calculating, waiting to strike down the most innocent of persons at the slightest provocation. Neither are completely true but both are based in a measure of truth. God is loving, mercifully overlooking our imperfections. He is holy, however, requiring that we shed our sin like so much dead skin and not live in it. As you witness, think. Find the lie or the half truth that the person is believing and expose it with the light of the truth. Otherwise their salvation will be a masterful forgery because it is based on fallacy.

Fireflies

            One of the sweetest pictures of Christians in nature is a firefly. I love fireflies. In the summer, one of my favorite things to do is to drive out to the countryside around my hometown at dusk. As the sunsets and the night awakens into a cacophony of sound, the fireflies rise out of the fields and meadows. They are numerous but completely invisible until they light their little “fires.” The evenings is the speckled with tiny flickers of light, on then off, on then off. They are so beautiful and as I child, I tried to capture them and keep them in a jar in my room overnight. But alas, they never survived until morning.

            Christians are these tiny beams of light in a dark world. We seem to multiply during the dark times of life. We rise from places that seem to have no such life and then shine our little lights. If you try to put us in a jar to keep us overnight, it doesn’t take. You have to be one of us to enjoy our light and can’t just keep us to look at and enjoy. So how is your light doing? Are you in the darkness and feel alone? Look around at the fireflies around you that you have not noticed or had forgotten were there. Take courage that we are all fireflies in a dark world. Don’t let your light burn out… even if you get put into a jar.

*picture from found on Google Images from another blog.

Not a Cookie Cutter

I love to cook and bake. Its how I de-stress. Its so relaxing to come home after a long hard day and experiment with food. My friends and family reap the benefits because I’m really a very good cook, if I do say so myself. So one night a couple weeks ago, I found myself making gingerbread cookies. As I rolled out the dough, I started thinking about cookie cutters. Every time you use one, the cookies come out perfect. They fit in well with the other cookies around them because they fit the mold. They look alike. As I meditated on the symmetry of cookies and their shapers, the subject of my life bubbled to the surface of my mind. I started moping because my life doesn’t fit the cookie cutter of what a fresh out of college career person’s life should look like. It made me regret some things, until my best friend, Pamela told me something. She said, “you will never live a cookie cutter life so stop trying. God has made you different and called you to be different so that you can do more for Him. That’s why you feel like a misfit.” Her wisdom is staggering. Imagine how many heroes of our faith would not exist if they had fit into the cookie cutter. Cookie cutters aren’t all bad. God has created this universe with pattern and order and if everyone didn’t “fit the mold” it would be chaotic. Don’t forget, God is creative and slightly eccentric. He enjoys uniqueness as much as pattern. In some ways, I am distinctive… living an American life when I would feel best in an African hut. So why am I here? I’m here to help other “misfits” realize that they were made to not fit into the cookie cutter. How will you not fit in?