Theme Songs

By Janet Morris Grimes –

One of my favorite songs is Through the Eyes of Love, which was the theme song to the move Ice Castles. I love the lyrics, but more than this, it takes me back to the closing scene of that movie, when an ice skater who has gone blind from a tragic accident chooses to skate again in front of a crowd that has no idea she cannot see. The song moves me to tears every time, and sums up the struggles of the movie perfectly.

Theme songs are that way. They combine the thoughts, feelings, memories, and even scents of an event and sum it up nicely into a moving piece of music; a magic carpet that can take us anywhere we long to be.

My nine-year-old nephew proved the power of theme songs to me when he recently heard Neal Diamond’s Sweet Caroline on the radio. “That’s the song they played when I went to the Atlanta Braves game, and we all sang along and ate popcorn.” The twinkle in his eye told me that it was already one of his fondest memories.

A college baseball team here in town has taken the ‘theme song’ idea a bit further. When each player gets up to the plate to bat, a line or two of his theme song plays. They introduce him by name, and then his song goes even further to explain who he is, and what he is all about.

It caused me to wonder what my theme song might be, if I could choose something for people to hear when they first meet me. Would they hear something joyful, catchy and upbeat, that would cause them to want to sing along?

I believe God is writing our movies as we go through each day. His desire is for others to be drawn to Him, through us. He is a masterful creator, and His stories should overflow in all areas of our lives.

My prayer is to live in such a way that when others cross my path, they will search until they find out the name of my theme song. I don’t know yet how the closing scene of my movie will play out. But I hope that my theme song will be something that others want to hear again and again; like a favorite song kept on repeat.

After all, my song comes from He who rejoices over me, with singing.

“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV).

Veggietalization

By Art Fulks –

As a a father of four, I love being a Dad. When my kids were little, we watched all of the Veggie Tales videos we could find. With grandparents living far away, we watched (and I listened) to every song and line as we drove. We knew them by heart. Our children learned many of the great stories of the Bible, especially from the Old Testament.

Recently, I was teaching about the Great Flood in Genesis and a particular line really caught my attention. It said, “All flesh on the earth that moved perished,…and all mankind.” (Genesis 7:21) As I pondered this verse, I realized that all of the animated ark pictures with smiling faces emerging from under the frame of a rainbow were not realistic portrayals of what really happened. Imagine stepping off the ark after a year and being overwhelmed by the fact that you are one of only eight people on the face of the planet.

Certainly the faith and obedience of Noah teaches us a great lesson about following God. Surely, the grace of the Father was poured out on his family and the rainbow is an incredible reminder of God’s covenant to never destroy the earth by flood again. But if we allow it, we realize the serious nature of the holiness and judgment of a righteous God.

Every child is different and matures at varied pace. However, I have come to realize that as they grow up, we need to give them the most accurate pictures of God, our enemy, real life, and the cost of following Christ.

I still find myself at times humming the tune to: “O where is my hairbrush.” But there is no real Island of Perpetual Tickling as told in the Veggie Tale version of the story of Esther. The Jews were faced with imminent death. We want our kids to know that God is a loving Father. But I am learning to be careful about my characterizations of His nature.

God is not a Veggie Tale character. He is the glorious Creator, Savior, Judge, and King to whom we are all accountable. It is only when we begin to grasp His righteousness that we can see our sinfulness. And when we begin to recognize His holiness, we can experience His grace. That is an amazing story!

Taking a Risk

By Cynthia Ruchti –

I know to grab the box of tissues before I watch certain movies. I cried during a recent dinner-and-a-movie date with my husband and wiped my tears with my popcorn napkin. My peripheral vision caught Bill lifting his glasses to wipe his own eyes.

Some passages of the Bible should come with a “grab the tissues” warning. When King David’s child died. When the paralytic took his first steps because his desperate-to-help friends clawed a hole in the roof and lowered him to Jesus. When Jesus called out to His Father in a loud voice, “Into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Among the others that bring me to tears because of the sweep of sadness, the remorse, the poignancy, or the love displayed is the scene when Jesus healed the woman with the twelve-year bleeding problem.

How alone and ostracized she must have felt in a society that treated problems such as hers like leprosy! Shunned from social functions; banned from the temple; exhausted by her disease and by the unimaginable and unsuccessful treatments thrust on her by physicians, quacks, and the well-meaning but uninformed; anemic; pathetic; friendless; and drained by the financial burden that stole the rest of her energies…

The woman defined the concept of utter desperation.

Crushed by it all, she must have been crawling along the ground to have reached out and touched not the shoulder or the waistband but the hem of Jesus’ garment. She was instantly healed.

This is the part that pierces me with its beauty. Jesus turned and called her “Daughter.”

I picture Jesus reaching down to lift her from where she’d fallen, cupping her face in His hands, and commending her for taking the risk of trusting Him to heal her.

Where are my tissues?

AUTHOR QUOTE: Is Jesus asking you to take a risk in trusting Him for something only He can do for you? Stretch out your hand.

“Jesus said, ‘Daughter, you took a risk trusting me, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed’” (Luke 8:48 MSG).

Holiness: A Clean Heart

By Carin LeRoy –

When I have company visit my home, I do my best to clean to make sure that things are dusted, scrubbed and picked up. I wouldn’t want them to think that I’m a dirty housekeeper, so I want to present my home the best I can when they arrive at my door. If guests are staying for the night, I give them washed sheets on their bed and a fresh towel. After all, would we give our visitors dirty bed sheets and a used towel? Of course not.

This brings us to another aspect of what it means to live a holy life. Just as we want our homes to be presentable and clean when guests arrive, we should also want our hearts and lives to be clean before God. We strive to confess our sins and keep our lives free from sinful habits. As Dr. Robert D. Luginbill says, “It is still possible for our feet to pick up a bit of dirt as we walk about in the devil’s world. God has given us the status of ‘holy people,’ but we are still imperfect and capable of sin.” It’s important that we don’t look lightly at our personal behavior and the sin patterns that crop up in our lives. Not only do we confess them before God, but we repent. Confession brings forgiveness, but repentance means we turn away from those sins by not allowing them to become a habit in our lives (Acts 3: 19,20).

“Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me” (Psalm 51: 10 NLT).

David recognized his sinfulness and asked God to create something new within his heart. He knew he was helpless on his own, and it would take God’s power within him to live a holy life. He desired to honor God but saw the weakness in his own soul. We all fail, like David, and have sins that haunt us. Yet God still desires for His children to live a life set apart and holy. God sees our hearts. Are we confessing our failures and repenting of the sins that grip us? If not, then let’s strive to learn like David what it means to have a clean heart before God.

PRAYER: Lord, create within me a clean heart. Give me a steady and loyal spirit that follows after You. Help me to repent from the sins that desire to take hold of my life.

“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations” (Ezekiel 36:26 NET).

Am I Cain?

By Art Fulks –

In the popular movie, ‘Remember the Titans’, a girl recognized that the relational struggles of our culture were as old as that of Cain and Abel in the first century. How about our struggles in relationship to our God? Have they changed? Have the issues really changed?

In Genesis 4 we read the story of Cain and Abel, each coming to worship, bringing offerings with them. Both came to worship the right God the right way, with the fruits of their work as an offering.

But God only accepted Abel’s offering. For most of my life, I thought it was because he offered an animal. That may be true. But the Hebrew text does not necessarily validate this, and the formal requirement of a blood sacrifice had not yet been given. So why did God accept only one of their offerings?

If both came to worship the right God in the right way, what was missing? The answer may be partly found in Hebrew 11:4, which describes Abel as bringing his offering in faith.

But how did Cain bring his offering? Genesis 4:5-15 gives us insight. When confronted that there was something wrong with his offering, Cain responded in pride with anger, resistence, and hostility toward God. That hostility turned into jealousy and violence toward Abel.

Many of us come to worship the right God. Some of us even come the right way, bringing an offering of the fruit of our labors. But how are our hearts? How is my heart? If we accept that sanctification (becoming more holy) is a process for the believer, then we must know that coming into God’s presence and hearing His Word will consistently confront our sin. But how will we respond?

Our response reveals the condition of our heart. God knows we are not sinless, so His expectation is not that we worship in our perfection. But He does expect us to come with a humble spirit revealing a right heart that desires to be molded into His image for His glory.

The lesson I am learning is how to better evaluate my heart in worship. My heart may be best judged in my attitudes toward others in my family and church. I have found that I can be just like Cain. When I resist God, it is reflected in my words. It is a sure sign of my heart.

So now, my new question each week is: “Am I Cain?”

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