today’s visual inspiration
The lady who drove me crazy and how God changed my heart… kinda
Several months ago, I received a call to work for a couple weeks on a commercial job. I had just finished a feature film and welcomed the change of pace. The client was a national brand and the agency needed someone local on the ground who knew the area. The inital conversation with the producer was extremely positive and I thought it would be some good fun. Besides, I didn’t have anything else going so I said, “yes.”
When the out of town production staff arrived, everything quickly changed. What was to be a challenging yet enjoyable shoot spiralled into one of the most toxic work environments I’ve ever been in. Even more than the previous project I had been on which was pretty bad.
Everything goes South
I won’t get into all the details but the producer was, how can I say this gently… psycho. You may have worked with people like her. Insecure. Overbearing. Demeaning. Moody. She loved to cause crises so she could be the one to sweep in and be the hero. Everything had to be chaos so she could be the one to fix it. You never knew who you were going to get from one moment to the next. You’d just scratch your head and wonder, “How in the world did a person like this get into the leadership position they currently hold?”
I’m telling you… this lady was crazy. Certifiable. She was the opposite of a people-empowering leader. She was only concerned with being right even if it meant the whole thing burned to the ground. And boy did she have me in her sights. She was gunning for me all the way.
I tried to part ways a couple times but I was already committed and we were a day away from shooting. I can endure almost anything if I know there’s an end in sight. Just grin and bear it. Right?
The problem was, I didn’t want to grin. I didn’t want to bear it. I wanted to punch her in the throat. Go full out UFC on her a-double. I’m serious. My heart was growing dark and all I wanted to do was chokehold this chick until she tapped three times so I could throw my hands up in victory having vanquished my evil foe. I know, I know. Hate is not the godliest of feelings. But, I’ll be honest, that’s the emotion I was struggling with.
A shift in perspective
So, it’s the last day of shooting which means I didn’t have to be around her much and it finally dawns on me… this woman is broken. Like all of us. She’s just broken. She made my life so miserable that I failed to see it for what it was. I failed to see her as human; as an image-bearer.
I turned to a friend who was working with me and said:
“You know the thing that bothers me most? God loves her. She is special to him. She is valuable to him. And that drives me crazy because there is nothing in me that feels that way in this moment.”
That moment of revelation didn’t change anything, really. I was still her whipping boy. For another six hours at least. She still thrived on chaos. She still loved to be mean. But, something in me changed even if just a bit.
I still didn’t like her. I couldn’t wait for it all to be over. But, something about that experience stuck with me. I come back to it quite often. I come back to the question God was asking of me, I think.
What if you lived with the realization that everyone you encounter is broken?
In some way, big or small, every person we meet carries brokenness that runs to their very core. And what if, in that understanding, we asked ourselves these two questions:
What can I do to bring healing to the brokenness that is in them?
How can I be part of their redemptive story?
How different the world would be if we could only see each other in this way.
today’s visual inspiration
God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love. God establishes a most intimate unity with this. God becomes human, a real human being. While we exert ourselves to grow beyond our humanity, to leave the human behind us, God becomes human; and we must recognize that God wills that we be human, real human beings.
today’s visual inspiration
Benaiah’s Family Portrait he made in Little Big Planet 2.
A Strange Way to Save the World
Today is the day when people around the world celebrate the simple truth that God does things differently… much much differently.
A couple of weeks ago I was trying to explain this to my nine-year-old when we came across Paul’s writing, “God chose the foolish things to shame the wise.” I broke it down like this…
Kick Butt and Take Names
Undoubtedly, we’ve all seen superhero movies where the world needs saving from aliens or bad guys or some other menacing threat. These are some of the highest grossing films that studios put out and we simply can’t get enough. We love it when the hero swoops in at the last moment and saves the day.
We love it because that’s how we would do things. The world needs saving and so we send a show of force. We send in the big guns. Shock and awe. Military superiority. Air power. Kick butt and take names.
Upside Down
But, God doesn’t do things our way. When the world needs saving… he sends a baby. A child that grows up not into a powerful ruler but a humble man willing to be the recipient of rejection, abuse and torture.
It’s foolish. It confounds us. It makes no sense at all. But then again, not a lot about Jesus makes sense to our natural instincts.
“Turn the other cheek…”
“Pray for your enemies…”
“Sell all you have and give to the poor…”
“Forgive over and over those who have wronged you…”
It’s all upside down. It’s ironic that while we want God to do things our way, once a year we celebrate the fact that he doesn’t. And, with all the vigor and energy we can muster! We think we’re celebrating a cute little baby but God didn’t send “baby Jesus” to be cute. He sent him to save the world. To redeem us. To make things right. To make us right.
Desperate Prayers
A lot of people are facing real challenges. Many prayers are being offered. Some are desperate “Hail Mary” prayers. Some are simple pleas for help. Others are angry and loud. Often times, we want answers to come dramatically and quickly, much like a superhero with superpowers. But God rarely works that way.
The road back may not make sense.
The answer may not be the one you wanted.
The “wisdom” that got you into your present circumstance will need God’s “foolishness” to get you out.
And, it’ll be upside down. But be reminded of this: the same God who had you in mind when he sent this precious child… he hears and sees you today. He may be silent but he is neither deaf nor blind.
A Christmas Prayer
No matter what you are facing, may today be the day you find comfort in the manger.
May today be the day you find peace in the God who does things differently. And may that peace wash away your frustration even when that frustration is with him.
May you be reminded that although your prayers are slow to be answered and your pain is so very great, there’s a Savior that loves you deeply. God has come near. He has come close.
Read it again:
God has come near. He has come close.
…and he can be trusted.
The Parthenon in Nashville
reblog: The Beautiful Paradox of Good Friday and the Final Words of Jesus
Originally posted on Good Friday - April 2, 2010
I was chatting with a friend on iChat earlier this morning and I wanted to recognize this important day but somehow “Happy Good Friday” just seemed inappropriate so I settled on a rather weak and cliche “God bless you and your family today.” It’s the best I could come up but I meant it knowing today should be a day of sober reflection for every follower of Christ.
Even the name “Good Friday” is paradoxical. It’s a good day for us but it wasn’t so good for him.
But I also find that Jesus’ final words carry a bit of paradox that a lot of people can relate to and resonate with. I know he was fufilling prophesy but it doesn’t diminish what I believe Jesus was really feeling in that moment and was honest enough to come right out with it…
Matthew 27:45-46: From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi,lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Have you ever felt this way? Ever felt like Almighty God was letting you down? Ever wondered, “What in the world are You waiting for? Step in and DO SOMETHING!”
I know I have. But, I love how God in his wonderful grace and mercy has placed things in his Word so human and so raw. It’s not the glossed over Gospel that is often times presented today. It’s real. It’s gritty. It’s to be wrestled with and grappled with.
The Beautiful Paradox of Good Friday and the Final Words of Jesus can be seen in his follow up to this incredible feeling of despair…
Luke 23:44-46: It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The same God who Jesus felt had left him out to dry, was the same God he committed his life to… committed his spirit to… committed his pain to… committed his trust to.
Jesus is our perfect example. He’s the essence of beauty and life. So…
May you, on this day, even though you feel forsaken and torn and broken and bruised… even by God himself… turn to Him because he’s good. He’s loving. He’s faithful.
And He cares for me and you.
The Bible does not counsel abstinence before marriage because it has such a low view of sex but because it has such a lofty one.
today’s visual inspiration
My latest mission is classified. All I can tell you is that it involves submarines, a tiger, a very precious certain object that shall remain nameless, miles and miles of Sahara, and one Frenchwoman, coincidentally also named Sahara. Or so she wants me to think.
today’s visual inspiration
The Gospel is this: we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
today’s visual inspiration
