The Neverending Story

The neverending story.... the adventures of a young boy named Sebastian who was somewhat of a misfit. His imagination had been smashed down the road of hard knocks that had become this boys life. One day while trying to escape some bullies from school he scurries into a book store where encounters a book that will open his life to more adventure than he ever knew was possible. This book was like no other book he had ever read. In this book as he read the the story was unfolding in a far far away land where the wildest things could be dreamt up and happen as he read.

As a child this was one of my all time favorite movies. Watching it more recently I found it to be intriguing on a whole new level. As a child I loved the idea of a story that is being written at the speed of my imagination. Anything goes. Nothing is too far fetched or ridiculous...no rules, boundaries or limitations simply a whole other universe of possibilities. This explains why my favorite stories are those of Cinderella proportions...nothing is impossible. Thank God I get to be on this wild ride we call life where I serve a God who dreams bigger dreams for me than my brain can even hold, so when I ask him to work in my impossible situation, he never says thats too big but rather he asks why I am thinking so small! I am crazy in love with my dream-giving God and his limitless power!

Near the end of the movie all havoc breaks loose when this land is slowly but surely diminishing because of lack of imagination in children. Sebastian becomes skeptical of the power of this story and as he does so the blackness of a mindless generation is creeping in and gaining strength. Now, this movie came out somewhere in the early 80’s when kids still knew how to use their imaginations, and played with creativity. This generation that is being raised up has even less opportunity to imagine now that the most popular toys and games are those that have story lines already fixed and require more skill than imagination...but this is a different rant for a different time....

As I ponder the blackness taking over this imagination driven land I think of this journey you and I are on... a journey to discover life purpose and what we are on this planet for anyway. I have found my identity in Christ, I know I was placed on this planet for something and I have committed my life to God to unwrap this purpose a little more each day. By far the most exciting journey one could ever be on!! But as I look around at my generation I wonder how many are still looking for purpose? How many have lost touch with God-sized dreams? how many are floating toward the black abyss of living a status quo life?

Imagination was dying.....vision is dying.... in Proverbs it says, “where there is not vision the people perish”. In this fictional tale that was sending a loud message for creative imagination, the blackness symbolizes the lack of original thought and being lulled to sleep without using one’s imagination. In these current days the church is being lulled to sleep with the status quo. Things have always been done this way...they have worked this far.....”why fix it if it ain’t broke?” This mindset has paralyzed creativity slowly to the point that we no longer know where to begin when breaking out of the box. We serve a God of creative thinking! Let us be awakened to the call, and the desire to see God use us as his vessels at any capacity he would so desire!

It is time to WAKE UP!!! No longer am I satisfied with the blackness putting a fog over my mind of the creativity that God would desire us to minister in and through. Seems a bit crazy huh? Not quite knowing what the next step might be? No 10 year plan to speak of? But, who cares! This life is not my own anyway, I have surrendered fully to a cause that is so much greater than I am. A cause that leaves me longing for the heart of God for mankind. His heart is that none would perish but all would have eternal life. It is my responsibility to spread the good news. Now, how I go about doing this...possibilities ENDLESS!!! No limits! Lets punch the blackness in the face and see the land of imagination flourish once again!!

Don't Run With Scissors

“Don’t run with those scissors in your hand!”, a mom cautiously tells her 4 year old. “But why?” the little girl asks, and just as the words left her little mouth she trips and slices her hand open. Immediately the tears began to pour from those little brown eyes and a shriek of terror bursts forth. Lesson learned....the hard way, but nonetheless she has discovered the purpose for the rule of no running with scissors.It seemed like a fun idea before, now....not so much.
Now at this point the mother had a choice to make, 1) she could scold the child because she had clearly told her not to do this or 2) she could rush to the side of the now crying child and comfort her in her pain. Now only the most heartless of mothers would really scold a bleeding child because they has warned them of the outcome of their actions once before. There is a different level of compassion the mother has for her child. The only reason she told her not to run with the scissors was for her own good. When the mother sees her child hurt and crying it hurts her heart too, so if there was any way to steer the child in the direction of avoiding pain she would do everything in her power to do so.
I see this very common scene as an exact parallel as to how God cares for his children so so much, and that is the reason he sets guidelines and barriers to keep us out of harm’s way. Often we look at these rules as nothing more than a killjoy, keeping us from having the time of our lives. This is simply not the case. That whole ten commandments thing is neither a suggestion or simply a way of keeping Christians the most boring people on the planet. Those are set in place to keep us from cutting ourselves on the sharpness of sin.
The little girl in the story could not understand why her mother told her not to run with the scissors until she was faced with the consequence of her actions. So many times I find myself at that same point with Daddy-God. He told me to beware of putting myself in compromising situations, but I for one reason or another needed to test the waters for myself. I ran with the scissors, and found the consequences to be less than comfortable. I run to his arms yet again, broken-hearted, bleeding, in pain, needing comfort. He never denies me these, and never offers a response of “ I told you so..”, He simply reaches down as the loving father he is and offers comfort and peace.
After the mother gets done bandaging the wound on her little girl’s hand she asks her the question, “now, do you know why I told you not to run with scissors?”. The little girl responds between her sniffles, “yes....” Now, the mother was not doing this in a manor that says “I told you so..” but rather, she is making sure her little girl learned her lesson so that she will not get hurt in the same way again.
Often when we walk through the hurts and pains in life, that we get ourselves into, God does not deliver us from the aftermath of our poor decisions. He uses the hurts as a teaching point to see if we have successfully learned our lesson to avoid such blunders in the future. We need not view these teaching points as his wrath, but rather see them as His true love for us in trying to steer us in the right direction. God cares for his children, and hates to see them in pain. But if its a simple lesson that must be learned He is more than willing to guide us through learning the tough lessons in life.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to learn the lessons I needed to in order to steer clear the next time. It was not fun, but I am stronger because of it now!