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Tuesday, November 30, 2004
A Sign from God?
I was recycling mixed paper when I saw it. Right there at eye level on the debris bin, big as life. An oval bumper sticker slapped there by some crypto-evangelist. Four big letters: WWJD.
"What Would Jesus Do?" Those four initials show up everywhere anymore -- key chains, stationery, maybe even Super Bowl rings. And here they were in a recycling center.
This time, though, the message was slightly altered. Some wiseguy had neatly written: "Jesus has left the building." And that, I suppose, settled that.
With Jesus gone who-knows-where, the message implied, worrying about WWJD is irrelevant. Nostalgic at best. But meaningless in today's real world.
Interestingly, Jesus himself foresaw exactly that point of view. My paraphrase: "Just as it was in Noah's day, people will be getting married, raising a family, their kids will grow up, get married, raise families, and so on to infinity." (See Matthew 24:37-39)
Life-as-usual. So predictable it can bore you to tears sometimes. And then along came Noah, who built a big box of a boat in his yard. Neighbors scratched their heads and said things like, "So, Noah, where's the nearest ocean? Your house isn't even close to the river. What's with the boat?"
It didn't help any when he said God told him to build the thing because soon it would rain so long and hard there'd be the world's biggest flood. If God spoke to Noah, why didn't they hear it too? Poor old fool.
Time passed. Noah pressed on. The flood came. You can look up the rest of the story in Genesis 7,8, & 9.
Jesus' point seems to have been: Don't bank on life-as-usual lasting forever. God has a way of intruding into time with flashes of eternal power and glory. Real life has a way of becoming really unusual, or unusually real.
It happened on the first Christmas. It'll happen when Jesus comes again. In this time between the times, it happens whenever God and you are good and ready.
Jesus did leave the building 2,000 years ago. But by his Spirit, he's right here right now, and he's probably knocking on your heart's door to be let back in.
"What Would Jesus Do?" indeed! The fact is, we've got four Gospels to tell us what he'd do. And a bunch of letters from his friends, who knew from experience that his way really works.
If you're interested in walking in his footprints, I'd like nothing better than to help you find your way.
Contact me and let's get started on the journey of faith.
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:46 PM
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