Real?

Candle Light Carols=almost Christmas time at Moody.

This year I worked as an usher for all three performances. Tonight something big hit me as I visited quietly with guests while they waited to enter the auditorium until the applause. Many people commented on how the 'candles' were not real... "but, surely at one point they used real candles" I heard one person say. Another lady mentioned how nice she thought it looked, and that "even her 19 year old son thought it was neat, and he never thinks things are cool." This same woman proceeded to say that her son had mentioned how cool it would be if the candles were real.

WOW. That REALly got me thinking, why is everything so fake around us? Is the fire we have 'burning' inside us a fake Christmas light candle stick? ---Rather than a passionate, burning flame? (RAGING FIRE?!?!?!)

Maybe it is just me, but even this weekend as I stood there greeting guests and probably many people who have so graciously given their money to help pay my way through school, I realized that my smile was mostly fake. Sure, I like people, but honestly, there were times that I would have much rather be yawning or just standing there NOT acknowledging every person that walked by. Hmm, one may argue that I was being paid to stand there and 'be nice to people' or 'help them'. But, I couldn't help but feel like I was putting on a face. The way I dressed the last two days is so out of character for me. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to dress up a little, but really? IS that what our 'Christian' world expects of us now? If I showed up in my normal daily clothes I would be rejected. Maybe it is a cultural thing, but I can see how that can be such a stumbling block to some. Where does Jesus address people that they have to look a certain way in order to worship Him or learn about Him? He went to the lowly, honestly, He came to this earth in the most humble means, seeking the weak and those who have nothing left.

Maybe one day soon people will realize that there is more to this thing called "Christianity" than a bunch of rules and regulations. Maybe it will take some harsh persecution and some 'breaking' down and making 'weak' in order to get people to bend their knees fully to Christ and push aside everything this world has to offer. I will cling to Christ, Him alone!