Our Great Creator and Entertainer

My typical Sunday morning routine is to listen to an online church service or Christian video while I'm endeavoring to “beautify” myself -- hair, make-up, clothes selection, etc. Yesterday, my search left me wanting, so I stopped looking. I promptly apologized to God and said, “How could I be looking for something to entertain me when you are the “Great Entertainer” Who brings me so much amusement and enjoyment!

The Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Awards or Grammys is announced when a single or group wins the accolades of fans who vote them in because of their talents. I love it when I hear the performers give all the credit to God for their abilities and fame. They are giving credit where credit is due when they do that -- like when John the Baptist announced “I must decrease. He must increase!” (John 3:30).

God our Creator, deserves all the glory and praise because He created everything, including you and me. Maybe it sounds irreverent to call Him the Great Entertainer but how could I think otherwise when I realize He entertains me with the wonder and beauty of His creation. He entertains me through my friends and family. He entertains me when He nudges me in the direction I should go. And, here’s one I hadn’t thought about until Sunday morning -- He entertains me when I’m sleeping and gives me sweet rest and sometimes gives me dreams. In fact, He entertained me Saturday night when I dreamed that Jesus was dead and lying on a slab. People were with me and we were mourning His death when all of sudden His eyes opened up and we started cheering and shouting “Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive!”

I’m thinking the Jesus I saw in that dream was probably Jim Caviezel who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”. Jim’s parents attend my church here in Frisco and I remember hearing his testimony about how, during the filming of the movie, that he was hit with lightning at precisely the time of the crucifixion and on the cross. He had a near-death experience. It was captured on film and his realistic acting wasn’t acting at all. He lived through it to tell the story. Talk about God being the Great Entertainer!

He continues to entertain us as we watch the shenanigans of the enemy who is making such a fool of himself in the political and Hollywood arenas. That’s how we should look at the enemy – a weak, fearful, screwed up (as written by C.S. Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters”) and near-to-his-end. We will certainly be entertained by giving him the “last laugh” one day.

It’s time we put God on the pedestal and give Him the honor, the glory, and the praise that He is most worthy of because He is truly the incomparable, undeniable, indescribable GREAT Entertainer Who surprises us each day with His newest and greatest performances. He’ll make us laugh and we’ll cry with the thrills of His beneficent mercy and grace. He made all of this just for us! Perhaps it’s time to switch off the social media, TV, and the voices that endeavor to drown Him out. When we do that….we’ll most likely realize “There’s no business, like God’s show business…..because He shows out every day!”

But put your hope in God, Who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. (1 Timothy 6:17).

We All Need Somebody to Lean On!

This post is a follow-up to my “No Man is an Island” post from yesterday. My heart ached when I heard about Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain recently taking their lives. I didn't know them, but I remembered a precious friend, who recently took her life. Depression is real. Heartbreak is real. Loneliness is real. Desiring-to-end-the-pain is real.

C. S. Lewis noted, "Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and harder to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say my tooth is aching than to say my heart is broken."

With all of my good news, uplifting, encouraging, positive and motivational posts daily, I am still very aware that life is really hard for some of us. Sometimes it’s gut-wrenching, “I can’t go on this way” kind-of-gut-wrenching. Some of my precious friends have shared bits and pieces of their stories with me. I see the pain. I get it. I connect with it. I hear the struggle, and I want nothing more than to take them up in my arms and make it all better for them.

As I said yesterday, we need each other. We need community.
We need to get back to embracing co-dependency (I’m still working on that one, myself!). I gave scriptures for it yesterday. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and Luke 15:4). God gives His example of co-dependency. He does everything with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and likewise, they don't operate outside of Him. Three in one. We’re made in His image. So, why would we want to do life independently? It goes against the way God made us.

I have a small close-knit group of people that I trust with my life. Literally. They have lived life with me for years. They’ve shared high and low moments with me. And when life became difficult for me, they were there to encourage me by just being there with me until I found my way out. Words cannot express the depth of love I have for these people. They've seen my ugly cry. They've listened to my crazy rants. They know the depth of me and champion me to the core. (You know who you are. And I love and thank you so much.)

Oftentimes our "community" is our phones and laptops. Just let me say this to you, my FB, blog and social media community -- my faithful readers, I love you so much. You are my people. You are the breath of what I am made to do. Every “like and love” emoji and every word you type on here, every response and comment, I cherish. Deeply cherish. You are my reason for getting up at 5 am each morning to give a word to you that just might give you the breath of fresh air you need to be able to BREATHE in God's grace, love, and hope for each new day.

I know that I'm a by-God’s-design listener. If we met for coffee, I’d listen to you and capture every word you said. I’d ask questions and listen some more. After processing, I’d respond. It’s how I’m made. In many ways, this is what this FB post and blog has become for me. It’s my heart to yours. It’s what I need for me, and when I hit that POST button, it's what I sense you may need, too!

We all need community. People who understand and champion us. When we take off the masks, we find that we are all very much the same. We all have hurt. We all have stories. We all have hopes. We all have dreams. We all long to be known and connected. When we begin to see all people as "our brother, our sister and friend", we gain respect for them. And out of that comes love. Real. Authentic.Love. It is then that we begin to look a whole lot like Jesus. The resemblance is undeniable. And, out of all the lives we help to save, one just may be our own.