Light Bulbs


Today, I'm taking a little time to write about Light-bulb Moments. Have you ever had those? You're cruising along, thinking you have things figured out, then you have that moment when a light bulb goes on in your brain, and you think to yourself, "Oh! THAT'S what that was! Now I get it!" Ever have those? I do. It's rather humbling. I like to think that I'm pretty smart, pretty aware, have a good understanding of what's going on around me, understand people's motivations, have a clue about what's really what. and then the light bulb goes on, and I have one of those, "Hm.....I see what you did there. Now." And after my moment of realizing that I wasn't really paying as much attention to what I thought was the main thing as I really should have, I have to readjust my thinking and my orientation to the new reality that I have discovered (or that has been presented to me in some undeniable fashion.)

Think about The 12. When Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem starting the first day of the Passover week, The 12 were thinking, "yeah! This is what we're talking about! Jesus is going to be declared King by public acclamation. And we 12? We are going to be his High Council." Seriously, The 12 thought that Jesus was going to be this new, awesome civil ruler. The crowds that met Jesus as he came into the city treated him like a conquering king, coming to liberate them from Roman (translate: pagan) rule. The Disciples were all like, "Yup, we're with Him." Then, as the week progressed, Jesus didn't start raising an army. He didn't talk to them about how they were going to overthrow the invader government, and re-establish the glory of King David and King Solomon. Instead, he kept doing his thing...teaching about things like "love your enemy" and being the Resurrection and the Life, and being the Way, The Truth and the Life, and being the Doorway to Eternal Life. One of them was so disillusioned by this that he ended up going to the religious leaders of the day, and making a deal with them to "out" Jesus. Judas' plan was to force Jesus' hand, make him call up the troops to save himself. But it didn't work out that way. Judas' plan was to light the match so that the powder keg of revolution would explode.
It wasn't until the following Sunday that some (not all) of The 12 had their first "light bulb" moment. 
"Dude! The tomb! It's empty!"
"What!? How can that be?"
"Did somebody steal the body?"
"Nope...armed guards there all night. Who is dumb enough to mess with Roman guards? Those guys would go all Jackie Chan on you."
Then...one of The 12 has a light bulb moment.
"Uh....guys? You don't think...remember when he was talking about...the whole resurrection thing? Like when he said, 'destroy this temple and in three days..."
"No, seriously, think about it. All the stuff he's been teaching about. what if...what if he really meant it?"
It took some of them weeks. WEEKS. To "get it". One of them wouldn't believe it until he actually physically SAW the resurrected Christ, and touched the wounds in his hands, and put his hand in the wound in his side. Only then did he believe. Only then did he accept the truth and let the light bulb pop on.

I used to not like light bulb moments. The older I get, the more I appreciate them. Sure, I like to still pretend that I have a clue about most things. I sometimes still like to think I'm in control. But the greatest joys in my life tend to come when I simply go along for the ride, letting God run the show. It's this huge, constant adventure! The fun part is that I get to have a ringside seat at this amazing demonstration of the Power of the Risen King. On a daily basis, Christ constantly shows me what He is about. On a daily basis, He is standing there, saying, "Hey Larry...watch this!" And he pulls aside yet another curtain to show me something amazing.

As we drive forward this Holy Week, I know how it is. We all have "stuff" to do. We still have to get up, feed the dog, ignore the cat (why not? they tend to ignore us)...ok, feed the cat, go to work, pay the bills, entirely possible I will have to mow the grass for the first time this week, and all the other "life" things we do. But I want to encourage you...well, yes, I want to encourage you, but I need to make sure I personally take the time to reflect on the biggest light bulb moment in all of human history. Jesus really DID come to be the revolutionary leader. Not with a sword in hand. But He still completely changed everything. Before Christ, there was death. After Christ, there is the promise of life. All the old rules changed. The Old Law as amended. It was boiled down into two simple things...Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
So, have you had any light bulb moments lately? Where you look back, and think to yourself, "Oh! NOW I get it! so THAT'S what you were doing there, God."
Be on the lookout. God is on the move. Pay attention. It doesn't cost anything to pay attention. But it can cost everything if you don't.
Get out there and start pulling back some of those curtains. See what cool stuff God is doing!
My two cents worth today.

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