Skip to main content

What Planet Did You Come From?

Pulling into the parking spot at our favorite Chinese restaurant, we were taken aback by our son's sudden incredulous exclamation. We had been there many times. It was all so familiar to us. But our young son who was becoming an excellent reader had noticed the signs for the first time. There in front of our parked car was a sign that read, "Parking for Human Customers Only."

Well, at least that's what he thought it said. Neighboring businesses were conscious of the limited parking available and had taken steps to ensure that their own customers were not inconvenienced by someone else's. Hunan looked an awful lot like human to a speed-reading 1st grader.

Personally I've wondered at times if there are any normal people out there. Wouldn't it be nice if our church parking lot was filled with cars delivering perfect families to our front doors every Sunday. Maybe we should reserve our parking spaces for regular, ordinary, normal people only. Wouldn't life be so much easier for Pastor's and church leaders. Finding qualified staff members and volunteers who can get along with people and don't carry loads of excess baggage, would be so much easier. There would be waiting lists for jobs like mowing the lawn, cleaning the church and teaching a Sunday School class. The little conversations with God that we sometimes have before we answer the phone would end. You know, the ones where we say, "Oh Lord, what now?".

Herein lies the problem. We're all human customers! That's why we need God. Job once complained that the people in his own house "look upon me as an alien" (19:15). Perhaps we are the strangest of all God's creatures, yet we are the only ones he died for.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Will He Find Faith?

Luke 18:6–8 NKJV 6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” We’ve often looked at this parable and the Lord’s comments that follow. It’s what is sometimes called a good lesson from a bad example . An “unjust” judge gave the persistent widow the thing she desired. He did it because he knew that she was going to drive him crazy and wear him out until he did. Luke, in verse one, gives us his analyses of the story even before sharing it. It is teaching us to pray without ceasing, without stopping, and without slipping into a weak, powerless, and doubt filled attitude. There’s no ambiguity here. Jesus extracts for us the lesson intended. We are to see how a godless man, who cared little about anybody or anything except himself, ...

Walking

Simple insight: Children learn to walk because they instinctively know it's there destiny and they never quit trying. They fail miserably and painfully hundreds of times. How many of our goals would be achieved if we understood the power of persistent pursuit of a God given destiny?

Could This Be The Cure?

It's never easy when we are forced into change. Especially when it disrupts our daily routines and weekly schedules. Having temporarily suspended assembling, we long for the shared experience of corporate worship. The familiar and blessed services that we are accustomed to. Our hearts long for the closeness with our fellow believers. The CDC's recommended guidelines, and the extraordinary steps taken by churches over the past few weeks will have lingering effects. Some will find it easier to miss church while others will never take it for granted again. Israel's sojourn in Babylon permanently cured them of idolatry. My prayer is that this period of "captivity" in our homes separates us forever from the notion that we can ignore the Biblical mandate for assembling together .