When You Glue Yourself To A Basketball Court
With Easter coming tomorrow, it is the perfect time to set aside anything else going on in our lives and focus on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is also one of the times we miss Haiti the most because of how celebratory everything is around the country and how there seems to be a real focus on the resurrection.
With that said, I want to make sure to let you know (assuming you read the title of this blog) that I did not glue myself to a basketball court. I am, in fact, talking about what happened at the NBA play-in game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and L.A. Clippers.
During the game, a woman, I think, was protesting the Timberwolves' owner owning a business that does not treat animals well. So, at one point during the 3rd quarter of the game, she ran onto the court and started to glue her wrists to the court apparently thinking that they were not going to be able to remove her.
I am not sure if she was using super glue, a hot glue gun, etc. but I do know that she greatly overestimated the strength of that glue and/or the strength of arena security. As soon as she glued herself to the court, security from the arena came and gently removed her wrists from the court and proceeded to walk her out of the building.
When I heard that story, I thought it was hilarious. Easily one of the worst and most anti-climatic protests I have ever heard. When Jess heard the story, she laughed, but she immediately felt sorry for the woman. She made the point that the last few months of her life, if not longer, were probably focused on this one event. She was probably thinking it was going to be life-changing, and a way to get support for something that she loved. In the end, nothing happened and her life went back to was it used to be...minus the ability to ever enter the Timberwolves' home stadium ever again.
A similar phenomenon is a big reason why we have never tried to get All Things New to be an orphanage whose kids can be adopted. We saw so many kids in Haiti completely put their lives on hold for years waiting for their adoption to be completed, and many never even happened for one reason or another.
Here is the point: The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that lives in you TODAY!
We have to stop waiting for some future version of ourself that may never exist or looking back at some past version of ourself that is gone and realize we are saved by Jesus today and we have His power and His love today.
It is so easy for us to get caught thinking:
- When I get that promotion, I will really be able to live for Jesus.
- When I get married, everything will fall into place in my life.
- If I could just get that job then everything would be ok.
- When I get this degree, turn this age, graduate from this school, win this championship...Then Jesus can use me.
Easter is a time to celebrate the fact that Jesus could be neither defeated by nor held down by death and now, because of Him, neither can we.
News like that should jumpstart us, but if you are like me, I can be content to live a life of waiting and looking forward to the "next thing" and thinking it will bring me fulfillment and renewal...It will not.
Join me this Easter in praising Jesus and glorifying GOD for what Easter means to us. Then, when Easter is over and it is Monday...Let's keep celebrating Jesus for the power that He has given us RIGHT NOW.
HAPPY EASTER!