The Cheap Seats

I have always been a big fan of basketball, and the NBA (especially during the playoff's). Until tonight, I hadn't been fortunate enough to make it out to an actual game. A buddy of mine got tickets from a friend of his at church, and to my luck, the girl he was going to take couldn't make it.

I had a really great time, even though I had the occasional feeling that I was on a date with my buddy. The Mavs lost to the Trailblazers & Andre Miller went for 52 pts in the overtime win.

While I had a blast I couldn't help but notice something rather interesting. You see, my buddy and I were in the building, but barely. Sitting in the nosebleed section wasn't exactly my idea of a night to remember, especially while squeezed in between a big guy like him, and a rather portly lady who smelled like she was wearing beer perfume.

We spent a large part of the first half scouting out where we would move to in the second half. Low and behold we found some great seats that we open for the plunder. At the half we made our way down, and ended up making it through the third quarter, and most of the 4th before a girl gave us a priceless look as she appealed to her boyfriend who eventually informed us that we were in their seats. We knew it wouldn't last, but enjoyed 15 minutes from the sidelines nonetheless.

By night's end, I found myself thinking around the differences between watching a game from the cheap seats, and being in the floor. Of course the obvious, "they're closer" comes to mind, but they're still playing the same game. I really didn't even like either team playing (kinda hate the Mavs though). So I found myself looking to those around me.

There seemed to be a direct correlation between the quality of our seats and the type of people around us. It was like a beauty contest down near the court. The average guy sitting court-side was wearing pointy 'ALDO' shoes, tight jeans with bedazzled butt pockets, skull encrusted dress shirt or v-neck (sometimes both), and big sunglasses either on his face, or nestled in his fauxhawk. Accompanying our friend is the beautiful woman, with double d's falling out, botoxed lips, and hair extensions.

The general assumption that I took away was that generally speaking, the beautiful people sit next to the show. Far away from the mongrel race that calls the upper deck home. I know it's out of left field a bit, but...how great is it that the Kingdom of God is nothing like this.

There's a lot of money in Dallas, and a lot of BIG churches. If I'm not careful, I could easily fall into the misunderstanding that those rich, and important people are the ones watching the Lord work, as "He" has them build goliath sized sanctuaries and reaching other rich, and important people.

In fact I'm almost convinced it's works in quite the opposite manner. It's the poor in spirit the person who owns the kingdom of heaven? Aren't the mourners the ones comforted? The people who see the whole show of God's glory are the pure in heart right?

I guess I don't have a paradigm changing statement to propel my thoughts to the important things. But I sure am glad that I don't have to make myself look beautiful, important, or rich in order to see God move and work.

Sometimes I like to break a mental sweat.

So, for those who don’t know me too well, I sell computers at….well, let’s just call it the “fruit stand”. A daily part of my job is showing our customers all the awesome features, and functions of their devices.

The other day I came upon just such an opportunity that proved to be a bit more challenging than any interaction I’ve ever had in the store. A gentlemen walked in the store, late forty’s/early fifty’s, he had a mustache, and a note pad, which is code for “I need to learn something” (The notepad is the code, not the mustache). I gave him the usually friendly greeting, “Welcome to the ‘fruit stand’. Can I help you find something?” “Yeah,” he replied, “I was wondering if you guys had any books that could teach me some stuff about my phone. You see I have a little bit of a memory problem, and it would be really helpful if I could see the users manual in written form.”

I took him to the back and showed him some of the books we have on the phone, all the while probing to see what kinds of stuff he was going to use the book for. “Is there anything specific I could maybe answer for you?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied, “as a matter of fact there is. I’ve been having a bit of difficulty with my calendar app. See here, I can open the app like this, but I can’t close out the screen.” I told him, “Yeah, if you push this ‘home’ button there in the bottom center, it will take you back to your home screen, and close out the app.” He gave me a bewildered look, and inquired some more. “But when I open up the app again that stuff’s still going to be there.” The confusion became contagious, “Well yeah,” I said, “you’ll want to have that information so you can ad appointments, and schedule events in your calendar.” Seemingly a little frustrated he said, “But I want to clear out the screen, I don’t want to see this calendar!” So for the next 45 minutes I ran around in circles with this man, teaching him multiple times how to add, delete, and edit all his events in the calendar, all the while trying to explain to him the purpose behind the app, and the benefits he’d get from using the app properly.

Somewhere around the 30 minutes mark it struck me, this is too often how my relationship with God looks. I tried to imagine looking at myself from his perspective, and the patience he has, and is showing while teaching me how to live, and love well. Like the man with memory problems, I read the users manual, and listen to the spirit’s reasoning with blinders on, and cotton in my ears. Some how the electric pulses in my brain are being blocked, and I leave the interaction frustrated wondering why I can’t learn. I become the man James speaks of who looks at himself in the mirror, and then when he walks away from it, forgets what he looks like.

Praise God that he is a tenured teacher, and far more skilled than I. Slowly and surely I begin to see that his way is much more beautiful, much more user friendly. The lag between his teaching, and my comprehension that have always proven so frustrating to me, builds in me a trust in him because of his kindness, compassion, and patience. “His school is tough, and is one of brokenness” as I’ve heard Swindoll say before. God give me strength to embrace the brokenness that leads to breakthrough.

Escaping the Beauty

I love the Rocky mountains! If you've never been, they're kind of difficult to explain without trying to sound like a poet. Said most simply, they're "take your breath away" beautiful. They make you feel small in the grand scheme of things, like you could simply tuck yourself away in a fold of the mountains and live there without any worries.

I was born there at the foot of Pike's Peak, knowing nothing other than these mountains until grade school when I moved to Florida. We made it back often throughout each year, and every time without fail, I was caught saying "wow". Whether driving through a pass of mountains, or sitting on a rock on a hike and just taking in the landscape, their beauty is inescapable.

It struck me this week, however, usually around a week or so into my trip, they become somewhat normal. Not their beauty is any less than picturesque, but that they have simply become familiar.

Too often this is how it works with the people and places we become familiar with, their humor, and uniqueness, their skills and strengths, and even their beauty can seem to become somewhat tarnished. It's almost as if we can easily forget the greatness of the things that are closest to us.

David prayed to the Lord in Psalm 27:4 and asked that he might gaze upon the unique in incomparable beauty of the Lord. What we have seen in our day is the fulfillment of that beauty in the life of the God-man Jesus Christ. He is the essence of humility, serving those who were hard to serve, loving the unlovable, and seeking out those who sought to tear him down. His was a mission of grace, revealing the beauty of God through the gospel of reconciliation and surrendering his life for the atoning sacrifice of all who believe.

He has made this reconciliation available to us, and we are invited into restored into relationship with God through Christ. This is tangible beauty, this beauty is here and it is ever-present. The crux of this beauty, however, is that it far too often becomes familiar, and in that familiarity, the beauty of our Holy God can become sullied in our own eyes.

What is lacking in my life when I see the Lord like this is the same thing that escapes me when the Rockies become less beautiful; it's perspective. We are finite beings, who live in houses that will erode, and bodies that will become dust very soon. We must look to truth to see everything as God does. Through his scripture he reveals himself, and his great desire for all men to know him. The works of his hands are evident as we gain this perspective, and as we see him as He truly is, we will see him in all His glory high and lifted up, as our great God and King, beautiful.