Live! And in person!

 Someone mentioned the other day about sitting at an outdoor café - sun shining, fresh air, fragrant coffee, green trees and plants and flowers and clouds and … and she looked up to see everyone with their nose in their phone. Missing out on all that beauty!

Which reminded me of times when I’ve been going down the road and have seen doe and fawns, or turkeys, or some other amazing wonder. And I thought about people who have missed out on that unexpected beauty because they were texting on their phone instead being in the present and enjoying all that is around them.

Which led me to think about the days long ago when I took little ones to the zoo. Always a controversy about having wild animals caged up like that. But seriously, without a zoo – many, many children would never see a Siberian tiger or polar bear or peacock. Without an effort being made to bring the live animals to them, they would only know a small, still photo, or animated version of the real thing.

Which led me to consider the ways we need to bring Jesus to our world. Alive. If we only hand people a book, a photo, even animation, or snippets of bible verses  – it all falls so short of the “real thing” – you’ve heard all the familiar expressions before: Jesus with skin on, or, the hands and feet of Jesus. Remember the story in Acts 8 about Philip and the Ethiopian - "How can I (understand) unless someone  (takes the time to)explain it to me?"

 

I’ll bet you can think of someone right now who needs to feel the living, present love of Jesus. A hug. A smile. A little one-on-one conversation. A little hand holding. We sing it at Eastertime… Jesus is alive! Let’s make an effort to live it out for someone today.

·        What a difference you’ve made in my life!

·        I can’t believe we’ve waited so long to get together! Let’s do this again real soon!

·        I always enjoy visiting with you