WHAT LIES BENEATH

In our culture, millions of dollars are spent each year on creams and potions to eradicate the appearance of aging. Millions more are spent on plastic surgery to do the same....lifting up what has fallen, tightening what has become loose over the years. Still millions more are spent to hide the grey hairs on our head or to replace the hair that has fallen out.

Yet all these are only the visible aspects, what others can see on the outside. I can't help but wonder what is going on beneath that outer layer. In fact, I know that on any given day we can be in a crowd of people and somewhere in that crowd will be at least one person who is carrying cancer within their body ,probably another will have a heart that is not functioning properly, still others are walking around with clogged arteries. Yet to look at them, they look fine, no clue of what is going on beneath the surface.

Sometimes when I get out of bed in the morning and everything hurts, I wish I could SEE what is going on beneath my skin, why things are not running as smoothly as I'd like, why I'm getting slower and slower.

We know that from the time we are born, our bodies begin to die. We don't generally give that much thought til we get past 50 or 60, then as we begin to feel the effects of aging, we realize the truth of it. No matter how hard we try to avoid it or cover it up, our bodies ARE decaying and wearing out.

Some say we should "grow old gracefully". Others say "you're as young as you feel". I say "BOLOGNA!" to all of that. Growing old is NOT fun and there is nothing graceful about it. But... if there is anything good about growing older it is that it causes you realize how precious each day is. Little things that you overlooked when you were younger suddenly become so special. You take fewer things for granted and hold on to what really matters in life.

And, Heaven becomes sweeter as you realize that there you will have a body that is perfect. Whatever defects or flaws you had on earth will be erased in Heaven. There will be no pain, no disease, no heartache, no sorrow, no disappointment, no loneliness, no anger, no fear. We will dance on streets of gold, sing with the angels and best of all we will sit at our Savior's feet and bask in his love. There will be no more dying and no more aging because we will liver forever and ever and ever!! Hard to imagine, isn't it!!?

So, although I don't want to look my age (or FEEL it) and although I have no idea what truly lies beneath this outer covering, I can rest in the knowledge that in my heart I know that one day I will have a new body and a new home and I will rejoice for all eternity with the One who died to set me free from this body of death. Til then, I will praise Him for I am "fearfully and wonderfully made".

GET REAL

Our pastor has been urging our church to "get real" with one another, to stop hiding behind the masks, and to really let others into our REAL world.

Yesterday our Sunday School class (aka Connecting Points class) learned that a former member of our class had taken his life on Saturday night. His death was like a kick in the stomach for those in our class who knew him. No one could understand how this could happen. One said "I know he had at least 100 people that he could have called for help, and I am one of them". But...sadly he did not call. Why? Because it would have meant being real and not many want to do that.

Why do you think that is? I pondered that yesterday.

I believe it is because most adults carry with them a load of baggage brought with them from childhood and added to as they move throughout their adult lives. Hurts, offenses, wounds so deep that they have never spoken of them to a living soul, and wouldn't dare.

Max Lucado wrote a childrens book called YOU ARE SPECIAL. In this book, the lead character, Punchinello, can never earn a gold star, but instead only receives gray dots every time he messes up. He is covered with the dreaded gray dots! Soon he is so weighted down with the dots that he is totally hopeless.

Our churches are full of Punchinellos, all weighted down with their own personal load of gray dots. The dots have been accumulating since childhood. Some dots are larger than others. Some weigh more. Some people have more dots than others and those who have the most sometimes just can't bear the weight of those dots any more.

The only difference in us and Punchinello is that his dots are visible, ours are not. Most adults carry their dots in total silence. Oh they may reveal one or two, just so that others know a little about them. Or, if they feel really safe in a Bible study or class, they might even reveal a few really weighty ones. But no one ever reveals them all.

In Punchinello's case, however, he found a solution. The solution was found in a visit to the woodcarver. The woodcarver had created Punchinello. He loved him. When Punchinello realized that the only one that really mattered was the one who had created him, the horrid dots began to fall away. One by one as he received the woodcarver's love, the dots began to disappear. As he basked in the love and care of the kind woodcarver, he found that the dreaded dots that were hurled at him from others no longer stuck. Why? Because now he lived not to please his fellow townspeople who really didn't care about him anyway, but he lived to please the woodcarver and him alone.

God is our creater...our "woodcarver". He alone knows us totally. He knows it all! There is nothing that is hidden from him. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and while we were "yet in secret" He knew us. So with him we can shed our masks. We can "get real" with God! Stop pretending. He is not impressed or fooled. You may not get real with another living soul, but you can get real with Him. And I guarantee you if you do, if you pour your heart out to Him, He will be there, He will help you, He will give back to you what the dots have robbed you of. He will love you unconditionally and forever !

So....what are you waiting for? GET REAL with God today!