Ensign: The Claw!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 20 March 2015
Buzz Lightyear: This is an intergalactic emergency. I need to commandeer your vessel to Sector 12. Who's in charge here?
I do not understand the appeal of the claw machine to my kids. It costs a buck usually for one try, therefore a fiver can be used up in a few minutes. Unless the toys either have something dangling that you can grab with the claw or are otherwise arranged just right, the chances you'll be able to grab something AND get it to the drop bin (once Sarah -- or was it Jeffrey? -- grabbed something and it fell from the claw before he or she could get it to the drop bin) are kind of low. And the machines are designed that way, screwing up your depth perception. But hey, I have to let our offspring learn the value of money somehow, and when they do get something it's a great deal!
All Aliens: [pointing up] The clawwwwwwwww!
I am so thankful that God in His wisdom did not pluck me out with a claw, choose me to be one of His saved children, and then drop me before I got to the bin! (To read some commentators on Christian posts and websites, GOD HIMSELF isn't righteous enough for heaven. Some of the same people I imagine in darker moments see Jesus the Christ as the judge with gavel in hand ready to drive anyone before Him into the ground.) I'm using the exchange between Buzz, Woody, and the Little Green Men in the claw machine from the first Toy Story movie to make the point that it's NOT the claw that decides who goes and who stays, it's the person who manipulates it.
Alien #1: The claw is our master.
From our limited, linear, human perspective, it is certainly easy to believe that all around us, all creation, is random. And even "random" is not entirely accurate, for there is a pattern to the numerical progression of pi, to the entirety of the Bible as the Word of God, to your car being able to start when you turn that key in the ignition -- even if we cannot see it and would go crazy if we tried to! Or we can't see the pattern, the order, the form to it YET. And as far as I can tell from studying God's Word, understanding every jot and tittle and chapter and verse is not required to be saved or damned. (I know, we're used to hearing "saved or lost", but it lacks the finality.)
Alien #2: The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.
From the alien's point of view, from the point of view of anyone inside the machine looking out, it would certainly seem that way. But the claw on the machine doesn't start to move until someone guides it, and that someone chooses where the claw descends to reach whoever or whatever is on top. But Jesus has never chosen like that -- he certainly didn't choose you or me like that (I know in my case, I'm not so sure about you)! John 15:16 -- "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." You could almost think of the original disciples -- Peter, James, John, etc., who were mostly fishermen -- as society's bottom feeders!
Woody: This is ludicrous.
Verse 17: "These things I command you, that ye love one another." It doesn't take a degree to do that, there's no special class for it, and no extra credit. Translated, I can love you and you can still hate me,but you're missing out! One teacher I know compares our earthly existence to being plugged into the Matrix -- the movie trilogy where nearly all humanity's unaware it's in a giant computer simulation -- and when we die or Jesus raptures us we're "unplugged" and we realize the much larger world, the much huger reality (to continue the analogy) outside the machine. And we can choose to go, nothing ludicrous about it!
Prepare for ludicrous speed,
David
Buzz Lightyear: This is an intergalactic emergency. I need to commandeer your vessel to Sector 12. Who's in charge here?
I do not understand the appeal of the claw machine to my kids. It costs a buck usually for one try, therefore a fiver can be used up in a few minutes. Unless the toys either have something dangling that you can grab with the claw or are otherwise arranged just right, the chances you'll be able to grab something AND get it to the drop bin (once Sarah -- or was it Jeffrey? -- grabbed something and it fell from the claw before he or she could get it to the drop bin) are kind of low. And the machines are designed that way, screwing up your depth perception. But hey, I have to let our offspring learn the value of money somehow, and when they do get something it's a great deal!
All Aliens: [pointing up] The clawwwwwwwww!
I am so thankful that God in His wisdom did not pluck me out with a claw, choose me to be one of His saved children, and then drop me before I got to the bin! (To read some commentators on Christian posts and websites, GOD HIMSELF isn't righteous enough for heaven. Some of the same people I imagine in darker moments see Jesus the Christ as the judge with gavel in hand ready to drive anyone before Him into the ground.) I'm using the exchange between Buzz, Woody, and the Little Green Men in the claw machine from the first Toy Story movie to make the point that it's NOT the claw that decides who goes and who stays, it's the person who manipulates it.
Alien #1: The claw is our master.
From our limited, linear, human perspective, it is certainly easy to believe that all around us, all creation, is random. And even "random" is not entirely accurate, for there is a pattern to the numerical progression of pi, to the entirety of the Bible as the Word of God, to your car being able to start when you turn that key in the ignition -- even if we cannot see it and would go crazy if we tried to! Or we can't see the pattern, the order, the form to it YET. And as far as I can tell from studying God's Word, understanding every jot and tittle and chapter and verse is not required to be saved or damned. (I know, we're used to hearing "saved or lost", but it lacks the finality.)
Alien #2: The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.
From the alien's point of view, from the point of view of anyone inside the machine looking out, it would certainly seem that way. But the claw on the machine doesn't start to move until someone guides it, and that someone chooses where the claw descends to reach whoever or whatever is on top. But Jesus has never chosen like that -- he certainly didn't choose you or me like that (I know in my case, I'm not so sure about you)! John 15:16 -- "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." You could almost think of the original disciples -- Peter, James, John, etc., who were mostly fishermen -- as society's bottom feeders!
Woody: This is ludicrous.
Verse 17: "These things I command you, that ye love one another." It doesn't take a degree to do that, there's no special class for it, and no extra credit. Translated, I can love you and you can still hate me,but you're missing out! One teacher I know compares our earthly existence to being plugged into the Matrix -- the movie trilogy where nearly all humanity's unaware it's in a giant computer simulation -- and when we die or Jesus raptures us we're "unplugged" and we realize the much larger world, the much huger reality (to continue the analogy) outside the machine. And we can choose to go, nothing ludicrous about it!
Prepare for ludicrous speed,
David
P. S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope it encourages you too. If I'm not or you want me to get lost, please let me know -- thank you!
Thank You, Lord, that we can come to You in praise and prayer and that You provide for all our needs, even the ones we don't know we have! Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence there and around the world.
Thank You, Lord, for all of us in leadership and service here and abroad, as well as for opportunities we have and the promise of new life! I pray we all seek and have a blessed week. Amen.
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