Where the Action Is...

Over the last six years of caring for and battling through the attack of this disease upon my wife, I have found myself thinking about all the time that we have been together since those early days back in high school.  We first became acquainted as juniors when she sat behind me in our English class.  I probably spent more time that year facing the back of the room (conversing with her) than keeping my attention on the teacher up front!

I recall that year to be a time when we combined her friends and mine into a group of kids that seemed to do everything together.  There were the weekend softball games at the field at Howarth Park, countless trips to the beach complete with volleyball games, touch football and sand castle contests and many other events that we experienced all together.  I remember thinking as we walked off the field at the park one day that our cars filled most of the parking lot!  The following year we still hung with the group… but just a lot less as we began to find that we really enjoyed each other’s company… alone!

When I really started to get to know Piper, I found myself amazed at how fun and versatile she was!  (Hummm… sounds like I am talking about my first car – that’s not quite how I meant it!)  She would jump right in with the guys and play softball, toss a football, help paint the house of an older lady in her church, go four wheeling in a friend’s Land Cruiser and hold her own in just about any activity we participated in.  Then on Friday or Saturday nights she would greet me at her parent’s front door and literally knock my socks off because she looked so beautiful in a dress!  (I still have that reaction to her… although I haven’t seen her in a dress since our days in Oklahoma!)

When we were together, the ACTION just seemed to follow us!  Together we tended to be the instigators for most of the fun activities that the group did.  It seemed like there was nothing that we couldn’t do when we got together.  Each of us fueled the dreams, ideas, plans and just about any unconventional thoughts that the other might come up with!

Looking back now, I can honestly say that the same thing happened when Piper introduced me to Jesus and together we made a pact to believe His Word and to follow through on whatever we felt led of Him to accomplish as a married couple.  If His Word said we could have it and/or do it and He said go… well, we endeavored to take Him at His Word and go!  … and yeah… we’ve taken some guff over the years, but we’ve also done many things that others would never have even thought about… much less set out to accomplish!

Colossians 3:2 encourages us to “Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ --- That’s where the ACTION is…” (The Message Bible)  I just love the way that is expressed!  Our kids were enamored by ACTION figures when they were little.  Today kids are captivated by fast ACTION video games.  Young and old adults alike flock to the theaters to watch the newest ACTION Thriller movies.  You can’t tell me that the previews of the newest edition of the “Mission Impossible” movie series doesn’t catch your attention with motorcycles racing through crowed streets and cars flying backwards over vehicles and buildings!

We are a society that loves ACTION!  And as Christians we can be right smack in the middle of the most miraculous ACTION that this world has EVER seen!  I think the New Testament is the greatest non-fiction ACTION novel ever written.  It is difficult to find a time when Jesus and His ministry team were not in the middle of the ACTION in the city of Jerusalem!  I can just imagine the 120 disciples sitting in the upper room following Jesus’ death with a dazed look on their faces thinking, “What now?”  For many of them, the last three years of their lives had been a whirlwind of non-stop activity.  With Jesus gone… would they have to go back to the mundane lives they used to live?

Little did they know that in a few days the Holy Spirit would fill them, change them, empower them and set them off into an adventure that not only would duplicate what Jesus did, but cause them to see even “greater things than these” as their understanding and faith increased and matured. (KJV John 1:50)

So… do you want to be in the middle of the ACTION?  According to Paul, the way to accomplish this is to “Look (and keep looking) up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ!”  Believe me… the ACTION will find you!  Sounds pretty exciting doesn’t it?  I personally find it difficult to understand how some Christians can be upset, sad and even a little fearful at the way things are happening in the world when we have the power within us to make a difference in our homes, communities and in the world!  All we have to do is look up, find and then follow the ACTION Maker!

Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What or Who’s ACTION am I expecting to be a part of today?”