Filed under: Christian, Christianity, Real Life, Relevant Christian, Relevant Life
I ran across this post today at Christianity X, which happens to be one of my favorite blogs, and thought it very appropriate to share with you here.
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“Christian’s fail. Christian’s stumble. Christian’s sin. Those are facts so paramount to our lives that they are often overlooked in the beginning. Some wear the “sin” badge as a way to paint themselves like everyone else, like the world – but few truly accept it as a fact in their lives. It doesn’t matter who you are, humans aren’t perfect and – dare I say – we don’t even possess the potential for perfection. So why try? We don’t. Christians don’t (or shouldn’t) ever try to be ‘perfect’, such an undertaking would drive a person insane. Instead, we do the best with what God gave us with the lack of perfection as a guiding rod which points to the need for salvation. Those who don’t believe have an easy life, no conviction and nothing to hold them accountable.” (read entire post here)
What are your thoughts?
Filed under: General, Real Life, Relevant Christian, Relevant Life | Tags: teens teenagers God forgiveness
Wow….what a learning experience this past month has been. My teenagers have completely sucked my brain dry!
All common sense has vanished. There is no reason to be found anywhere. What once was a vibrant, open mind, is now a shriveled up barren wasteland.
How did it come to this? How did such sweet playful little tikes, clinging to every word daddy said, turn into the mind sucking hellions that now reside in their bodies?
As I was thinking back on the events of the past month with my 18 year old…a thought struck me like a ton of bricks…”Oh my God….now I see what my Heavenly Father feels like when I do stupid stuff and make bad decisions”. It reminds me of the line from comedian Bill Cosby, “I brought you into this world, and I can sure take you out”. 
I often wonder why God hasn’t wiped me off the face of the earth, dusted his hands, and said ‘forget it…this one is a lost cause’. The answer…He loves me. Plain and simple.
He loves me no matter how stupid I have been. He loves me no matter how many really stupid decisions I have made.
He knew me from before I was in my mothers womb. He knew what my tendancies would be. He knew how hard headed and stubborn I could be, and yet CHOSE to love me anyway.
As I told me son just last week as we were having a heated discussion about some behavioral issues, “I love you son, always have, and always will, no matter what you do…but please don’t ever do it again”!
How many times has our Heavenly Father said that to us?
I like to think about the story in the old testament when David, confronted by the prophet about his sin, is genuinely broken hearted and repents and the prophet responds, ‘He forgave you before you even asked’.
That’s mercy. That’s grace. That’s love. That’s our God!
Read more of my thoughts on my personal blog.
Filed under: General
Looking for a movie to rent this weekend, consider renting the DVD – Lars and the Real Girl.
Lars Lindstrom is a 27 year old, shy loner who avoids contact with people as much as possible. His issues seem to stem from the fact that his mother died while giving birth to him and he was raised by his depressed father. Lars now lives in the garage apartment behind his childhood home which is occupied by his older brother, Gus (Paul Schneider), and his pregnant wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer). The only social activity that Lars engages in is regularly attending the town’s Lutheran church.
One day at the small office where he works a co-worker shows him an Internet ad for a life-size girl “sex doll” that is “anatomically correct”. Lars purchases one and introduces her to his brother and sister-in-law as Bianca, a half-Danish, half Brazilian missionary who is “on sabbatical to experience the world.” She must be pushed around in a wheelchair and Lars claims to have met Bianca, his new girlfriend, on the Internet.
In fact sex is not what Lars has in mind, but rather deep, meaningful relationships with others. Lars and the Real Girl is a charming look at a young man who is learning how to join life. It is a movie about communicating and connecting, with the doll merely serving as the necessary conduit. Actually Christianity Today rated it as one of their most redeeming films of 2007
Most of the movie deals with Lars’ family, his church and the community learning how to respond and accept him and Bianca. Obviously, at first, Gus and Karin are very concerned about Lars’ behavior. Karin suggests that they seek counsel from Dr. Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), a family doctor. Soon, Lars is taking Bianca to the doctor once a week, which gives Dr. Dagmar a chance to talk to him and also to work on his fear of being touched and connecting with others. She tells Gus and Karin that Lars has a delusion and the best thing for them to do is to simply go along with it.
Not only do Gus and Karin go along with Lars’ delusion but so do other’s in their small town. The church council and the pastor meet to decide what to do if Lars brings Bianca to a Sunday service. Mrs. Gruner (Nancy Beatty) convinces them that everyone has problems and that they should offer moral support to Lars in the name of love. The pastor concludes the meeting by saying that the only question they need to consider is “What would Jesus do?” Consequently, when Lars brings Bianca to church, the congregation accommodates her and even welcomes her with a gift of flowers.
This tolerance of Bianca starts with the Christians at Lars’ church but rapidly spreads throughout the whole community. Bianca gets her hair styled at the local beauty shop. Bianca is asked to volunteer at the hospital, and is even elected to the local school board. And through this journey with Bianca, Lars begin to see for the first time in his life, that he could have a normal life like other people – REAL people. Toward the end of the movie he begins to respond to all the special attention he has been receiving from Margo (Kelli Garner), a co-worker who has taken quite a liking to him.
I think that Lars and the Real Girl is a powerful look at the body of Christ in action. It is a movie about the power of love and support from a community, particularly a church community, around a person who is broken and in need of healing. His fellow churchgoers choose to love him unconditionally by playing along and embracing him in spite of his unusual behavior and soon after the whole town follows their lead.
Lars is certainly different. He is a man with a lot of pain. He has big needs. Too often the church doesn’t have the patience, desire or is ill-equipped to do what it takes to help those who are very needy or are considered “high maintenance”. Unlike many movies that portray the church as judgmental, what is so cool is that this movie portrays the church as a matrix of love, hospitality and care.
Lars and the Real Girl presents this small church in a small Northern town as the catalyst for an amazing outpouring of love and care by its entire community for a hurting and troubled person who needs their help.
Would and could the REAL body of Christ be able to show such a similar outpouring of love to a person like Lars? In REAL life could the church actually patiently deal with and accept someone like Lars? The cynic in me says, not likely – but it SHOULD! Who else but the church should accept and reach out to the least and the last. Where else should the broken and wounded go for healing? Christ’s church of course!
With the power of the gospel, we should be able to help heal and restore people from lives of brokenness and pain. Thankfully this is a movie that portrays the church able to step up and love a broken person.
Now we should have every expectation of real “life” being able to imitate “art”.
Bill Reichart is a pastor at Big Creek Church in Forsyth County, GA. He blogs at his personal blog, Provocative Church and his ministry blog, Ministry Best Practices.
