Moments of Clarity

God's Not Dead. 

Boy that can sound intimidating, depending on the side of the fence you're sitting on. 

I am sure if you are a Christian you have seen the movie (right?!) because of the press and the many churches that have shown it and promoted it.  And, if you are not a Christian, well, I am sure you are so sick of hearing about it.  Hearing about the Robertsons (Duck Dynasty) and their beliefs.  About the movie that the Christians are all toting.  About the text messages that everyone is getting, 'God's Not Dead'.  Am I right?  Probably. Or maybe you haven't heard a thing. 

I admit I have wanted to see it.  But, until tonight, I just hadn't.  One thing or another came up.  And that is pretty typical of life.  Everyone I talk to has stuff coming up.  Some of it really ugly in their lives.  Some of it just busy.  Some of it overwhelming in obligations or demands made on them.  Right? You too?

My life has felt like that for so long.  So long.  I just jump from one set of gotta do's to another.  If you looked at my life in retrospect you would see a Multiple Personality Disordered life.  No disrespect of mental disorders intended.  All the times I have done 180s and, I bet you would have stories to come back at me with. It is just life.

There are moments though, when life gains a whole lot of clarity in a very short amount of time.  And sometimes we get so dang excited about it that we want to tell everyone.  

And some nice people shake their heads and smile and say, "Wow, that's great!"  

And some nice people wrinkle up their eyebrows and say, "Err...that is really interesting." 

And, some nice people cut you off before you get three words out of your mouth and say, "I am not interested."

I do that to salesmen at the door.  I do that to other faiths that I don't believe in or agree with.  So I am not that different than those who do that to me.  I probably don't deserve the time of day to recount my exciting revelation or moments of clarity.  But thankfully, it really isn't about me.

My walk the other day that started my blogging again, well, that wasn't about me.

And the revelations that I got from that walk (Come Awake, well, they aren't really about me either.

And what I write about, well, that is about me.  But it is not really for me.  And ultimately it isn't so much about me either.

I know in 1997 when I first became a Christian because of a crazy, and I use that word in a worldly sense, dream that I had.  Well, I know that people just thought Stephanie was having a crazy moment, a passing fad, another 180, another stage in her life.  And if I was on the outside looking in I think at first I would have thought the same thing too.  Some people I know stopped being my friends.  Got angry.  Refuted my new beliefs.  Called me bible thumper.  I didn't know people really did that.  Actually, at the time I didn't even understand what that was.  I was amazed, actually, at the fact that an admission of Christianity could bring out so many negative  feelings in others.

I was a baby, brand new Christian.  And that being said, I only knew that Jesus saved me.  

I didn't know how.  

I didn't know why.  

I didn't know who he was.  

He was a baby in a bed of hay under the Christmas tree.  

That was it.  But that dream, that vision...What ever you want to call it, it changed my life and made me want to know who he was.  I was desperate to know.  

Because at a point in my life when I was willing to give up everything because I selfishly didn't think I was worth anything this Jesus thought enough of me to invade my dream and save me in such a way that spoke to me.

I still think it sounds crazy.  

It has been almost 20 years since that night. Almost to the month. 

And no matter the 180s I have made since then, there is one 360 that I never stopped doing.  That is, turning to God and, believing in Jesus.  I am just as much a sinner as either group I started this with. By sinner, I mean someone who has not lived a perfect life free of guilt and doing what is wrong. And I will not claim to be perfect because I am a Christian.  I am simply saved.  I recognize my need for a Savior and I chose to believe in the one who died to save me.  There is a lot of other stuff that came after that.  Some good.  Some bad.  But the one truth remained the same.  I cannot imagine how I would have made it through the tough stuff of life without having God there.  And there is nothing I could possibly say in my own words that could even convey it to you.  The magnitude is unbelievable.  But I can tell you one thing.  God's Not Dead.  

If you haven't see the movie, see it.  It won't hurt you.  It might seem a little crazy at times.  But it might be just what you're looking for... to answer a few questions that keep bugging you. And if not. Then it was just a movie to you.  Thank God for free will, right? ;)

Either way, I hope you see it.  It was pretty darn good.

I included the trailer just in case you haven't seen it or the movie.