This post is dedicated to my awesome valentine of almost 11 years, Allie Reveley.
My Valentine
You don't know what you do to me
You don't know how you still knock me off of my feet
You light up the room when you walk in, but you don't see it
My heart still skips a beat when I look at you
Our boys look at you like you are the best thing ever created
They take after their daddy
I know there are days when I fail
There are days when the world is only spinning around me
Those are the days I regret
Because I made a promise that my world would spin around you
I promised to love and serve you
That is still my promise today
I still promise to love you with all of me that's inside me
I still promise to serve you to my dying breath
I still promise to look at you the same as I always have
With admiration, love, and a sense of wonder
To me you are the wonder of my world my Valentine
And you always will be.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Tarnished, Broken People
Do you remember the REM song "Shiny, Happy People"? If you don't, here is a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQ0vDAbF7s.
It is a very catchy song and I remember listening to it many times when I was younger. It's one of those songs that gets you in a good mood. I thought about this song today in light of the recent death of actor Phillip Seymore Hoffman. He was a great actor who died before his time. Last week social media was full of people saying their goodbyes to the actor who definitely stood out as one of the finest of his time.
My one question as I heard the news of his death was this: What is it about celebrities' deaths that affects us so much? When a celebrity dies, people on Facebook and Twitter are affected by this person's death, regardless of whether they knew them or not (most likely not). The same happened earlier this year when Paul Walker died tragically in a car accident.
The thing that struck me about Phillip Seymore Hoffman was not that he died too young, but that he died shooting heroine. We look up to these celebrities because they are on television or in movies and we forget that they are broken people like we are. They have their struggles and their issues. We have seen this with young celebrities too like Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber, and Selena Gomez. These are people who are supposed to have it all together. They are the ones we can watch in order to escape our own problems and stress. These are the ones who are supposed to give us hope that everything will work out in the end. But, those ideas are proven false time and time again.
The most heartbreaking aspect of all this for me is that these celebrities are seeking fulfillment in all the wrong places. They are putting on the happy face in front of the cameras to give the illusion that they are all shiny happy people. If they do fall from grace, they are cast off. They are thrown to the wolves to be torn apart. The pressure must be tremendous to keep up appearances so that their career will continue to grow and they will not be forgotten.
When I was younger I grew up reading Sherlock Holmes (let's be honest, I still read Sherlock Holmes!). Sherlock Holmes was one of the greatest minds to have ever graced the pages of fiction. But, he was not perfect. He made mistakes and one of his biggest mistakes was that he was a drug addict. Whenever he was not on a case, he needed to have his brain stimulated or else he would fall into depression. Therefore, he would use opiates in order to recreate the rush he received while hunting down the latest criminal. He constantly needed to be filled to keep from feeling empty inside.
I can't help but see this same pattern in the lives of celebrities and people everywhere. We perceive celebrities as having it all together, but they are all broken people like we are. They have their faults. The biggest mistake we make as human beings is trying to fill ourselves with everything else that is not named Jesus. The only one who can truly fill us is Jesus.
Jesus and a Samaritan woman had a conversation in John 4. This woman was a social outcast because she was an adulterous. She would probably considered a whore or slut in her time. But, Jesus took the time to talk with her, which was very taboo. In John 4:13-14, Jesus says to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus wanted the woman to see that she was searching in all the wrong places to find fulfillment. She was drinking water that would never satisfy her. Jesus was offering her water that would forever satisfy her.
Here was a woman who society had written off. No one wanted to be a part of her life. She went to draw water by herself because she probably couldn't draw water with everyone else. And, here is the Son of God who wanted to have a conversation with her. Not only that, he wanted to lead her to the water that would give her life.
I have three boys and I want my three boys to know where true fulfillment comes from. I don't want them to think they have to be perfect in order to come to God. I want them to understand that they should come to God in their brokenness and that is really the only way to come to Him. I want them to know that He is the One that can and will fix their brokenness if they will turn to Him. He is the One that cares for them so much that He gave everything for them.
There are so many people who are looking for their place in this world. They are putting on a brave face to hide the inner pain they deal with on a regular basis. This even happens in the church and the church has become a place that broken people can't go to because the impression they get is that church is for the perfect. They think the church is for those who have it all together. It would be too much work to show up on a regular basis and hide their brokenness behind a fake smile. Isn't it time that the followers of Christ start showing these broken people that Jesus is in the renewing business. He doesn't want to just repair us; He wants to make us new. Let's stop trying to be shiny, happy people holding hands and let's start being tarnished, broken people in love with a Savior.
It is a very catchy song and I remember listening to it many times when I was younger. It's one of those songs that gets you in a good mood. I thought about this song today in light of the recent death of actor Phillip Seymore Hoffman. He was a great actor who died before his time. Last week social media was full of people saying their goodbyes to the actor who definitely stood out as one of the finest of his time.
My one question as I heard the news of his death was this: What is it about celebrities' deaths that affects us so much? When a celebrity dies, people on Facebook and Twitter are affected by this person's death, regardless of whether they knew them or not (most likely not). The same happened earlier this year when Paul Walker died tragically in a car accident.
The thing that struck me about Phillip Seymore Hoffman was not that he died too young, but that he died shooting heroine. We look up to these celebrities because they are on television or in movies and we forget that they are broken people like we are. They have their struggles and their issues. We have seen this with young celebrities too like Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber, and Selena Gomez. These are people who are supposed to have it all together. They are the ones we can watch in order to escape our own problems and stress. These are the ones who are supposed to give us hope that everything will work out in the end. But, those ideas are proven false time and time again.
The most heartbreaking aspect of all this for me is that these celebrities are seeking fulfillment in all the wrong places. They are putting on the happy face in front of the cameras to give the illusion that they are all shiny happy people. If they do fall from grace, they are cast off. They are thrown to the wolves to be torn apart. The pressure must be tremendous to keep up appearances so that their career will continue to grow and they will not be forgotten.
When I was younger I grew up reading Sherlock Holmes (let's be honest, I still read Sherlock Holmes!). Sherlock Holmes was one of the greatest minds to have ever graced the pages of fiction. But, he was not perfect. He made mistakes and one of his biggest mistakes was that he was a drug addict. Whenever he was not on a case, he needed to have his brain stimulated or else he would fall into depression. Therefore, he would use opiates in order to recreate the rush he received while hunting down the latest criminal. He constantly needed to be filled to keep from feeling empty inside.
I can't help but see this same pattern in the lives of celebrities and people everywhere. We perceive celebrities as having it all together, but they are all broken people like we are. They have their faults. The biggest mistake we make as human beings is trying to fill ourselves with everything else that is not named Jesus. The only one who can truly fill us is Jesus.
Jesus and a Samaritan woman had a conversation in John 4. This woman was a social outcast because she was an adulterous. She would probably considered a whore or slut in her time. But, Jesus took the time to talk with her, which was very taboo. In John 4:13-14, Jesus says to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus wanted the woman to see that she was searching in all the wrong places to find fulfillment. She was drinking water that would never satisfy her. Jesus was offering her water that would forever satisfy her.
Here was a woman who society had written off. No one wanted to be a part of her life. She went to draw water by herself because she probably couldn't draw water with everyone else. And, here is the Son of God who wanted to have a conversation with her. Not only that, he wanted to lead her to the water that would give her life.
I have three boys and I want my three boys to know where true fulfillment comes from. I don't want them to think they have to be perfect in order to come to God. I want them to understand that they should come to God in their brokenness and that is really the only way to come to Him. I want them to know that He is the One that can and will fix their brokenness if they will turn to Him. He is the One that cares for them so much that He gave everything for them.
There are so many people who are looking for their place in this world. They are putting on a brave face to hide the inner pain they deal with on a regular basis. This even happens in the church and the church has become a place that broken people can't go to because the impression they get is that church is for the perfect. They think the church is for those who have it all together. It would be too much work to show up on a regular basis and hide their brokenness behind a fake smile. Isn't it time that the followers of Christ start showing these broken people that Jesus is in the renewing business. He doesn't want to just repair us; He wants to make us new. Let's stop trying to be shiny, happy people holding hands and let's start being tarnished, broken people in love with a Savior.
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