Nevermind

 My daughter made me this for Christmas. 

It's a new hobby she has, which I think that she is incredibly talented at by the way, and completely self taught. It was the promo pic of a Nirvana album by the lead singer, Kurt Cobain, called "Nevermind", and of the songs off that album, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was one of the first songs I learned to platy on the bass. 
So, for may reasons, I love this little guy. 

Tonight I looked at the back of it though. 

And that really got me thinking. 

The front looks the way it should. It's the logo that helped propel this band mainstream. I can tell what it is and I know what it means. 

But the back...well, it's kind of a mess. But it takes that mess to make the front look the way it's supposed to. Maybe like you? Maybe like me?

There's a lot that has gone on behind us to make us who we are now. Lots of learnings, lots of mistakes, lots of pain and regrets. 

And all that in the background is shaping who we are now. So, maybe the more jumbled up the backstory the more beautiful the picture. 

So, thank you Emily for this beautiful reminder of what I might portray on the outside has been knitted and carafted and woven together by what is behind. 

Celebrate what is in your background that makes your foreground uniquely you!

Come Down

 Since Heather and I are about a month away from our Holy Land trip, I have been spending a lot more time lately on "places" in the Bible. The idea of seeing these places that we read about Scripture is so excting, and as the time for our trip draws nearer, I want to thank all of you for helping make this possible. Please continue to keep Heather and I in your prayers to prepare us spiritually for what God has in store for us on this trip of a lifetime!

This morning I was studying about Jericho. This city is perhaps best known for its city walls falling down as Joshua and the Hebrew people made thier way into the promsied land. But Jericho, often referred to "the oldest city in the world", was frequented by Jesus as well in His travels. 
Luke 19 has one such occassion:

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  (Luke 19:1-7)

There are times in our lives, many times, where we need Jesus to "pick us up" from where we are. I picture all those healing stories of the lame who couldn't get up, and they looked up to Jesus for healing and help. And Jesus lifted them up, up from where they were to be with Him. I think this is a great analogy for our spiritual lives as well, Jesus lifting us up from the sin and mire (the "pit" as the psalmist often calls it) to be cleaned and made new. 

And yet today I have been thinking of Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, so this meant that he extorted mojney from the citizens. He was Jewish, yet he worked for the Roman government. He was not well liked to say the least, in fact the religious leaders, and even the writers of the gospels, ocntniually refer to people in this position as "sinners". 
And what is interesting about Zacchaeus is that he is short. So, when Jesus comes through Jericho, people line the street to see Him. That seemed to always happen. People needed something from Jesus, so they always called out to Him, tried to get to Him, tried to touch Him. 
But Zacchaeus doesn't call out to Jesus, it is Jesus who calls out to him. And Zacchaeus doesn't get told to "get up", he gets told to "come down". 
Of course Zacchaeus just wanted to see Jesus, he was vertically challenged, so he climbed a tree. And yet even there from that angle, he was "above" the other people who were on the road with Jesus that day. In a way, he was even "above" Jesus as well. 
So, Jesus said come down. Come down here with everybody else. Because that is where Jesus always was, and is. Down here with everybody else. If anybody could be above looking down on us it is Jesus! And He was the One who stepped out of heaven and came down to be with us. Down here. 

I wonder at times if I don't need to "come down". Come down from my ideas and thoughts, come down from my preconceived notions. Just come down to be with people. Because I bet that's where Jesus still is. 
So, as the Church, let's "come down".