Paul's Passing Thoughts

Guess what I got for my birthday this year? Tickets to the Casting Crowns Louisville, KY concert. Susan, who procured the tickets for us, showed-up with me at the front gates thirty minutes early for the concert. That’s when things started getting weird. People ahead of us who had gone through the gates where tickets were being scanned were coming right back out. I began processing that while still trying to process why arena officials were at the front gates giving away free tickets. Then our tickets were scanned, and I began to process the following from the attendant: “The stage was moved, so the seats are different, so you need to go over there and get your tickets replaced.”

I then thought to myself, “couldn’t they have moved the stage in such a way that this would not be necessary?” We then went back outside to the official who was giving away free tickets and asked, “where is ‘over there?’” He pointed to a building that was on the other side of a construction area which provoked the following thought: “Are you kidding me?” So, Susan and I hiked through a dirt area to another building where we were directed to a booth with a large table covered with replacement tickets. A young lady took our tickets and began perusing the hundreds of tickets in neat rows on the table. I then began to think to myself, “you can do it honey, just look for row 10, seats 3 and 4.” She then came back to us and said, “we don’t have a match, you will have to go over there and have your ticket’s replaced.” She pointed to a row of ticket windows on the other side of the building. We then arrived at one of the windows and handed our tickets to an older lady who asked, “do you have ID and the Credit Card you used to purchase these tickets?” I already knew Susan left her purse in the car which was at least, or what would seem like, a mile from where we were now located. At this point, my mind was full of all sorts of things: visions of black and white Keystone Cops movies, total confusion from process overload, and yes, Mr. Anger was ringing my doorbell.

That’s when I knew, especially when things get that ridiculous. Yes, it took hundreds of failures and Bible lessons throughout my Christian life to come to this point, so I knew what to do: settle down, put your thinking cap on, and measure your responses because the Holy Spirit has called another class on Christian living to order.

Part one in the outline is “Evangelism.” This was a “Christian” concert, and most of the stadium workers were probably unbelievers. Would they see a different response from what would be experienced if it was a Punk-rock concert? So then, I replied to the attendant: “ok,” and reached in to temporarily take back our tickets. She then said something like the following: “No, you don’t understand, we can’t replace these tickets without ID and the Credit Card you used to purchase them.” I then said, “I understand, but if we need to walk back to our car to get those items, we had better get started.” She then looked at me as if she saw a ghost. That’s a good thing.

When we returned, it got better; in addition to everything else, we discovered that Ticket Master sent Susan the wrong tickets! And this as we could plainly hear the opening act performing. Part two, “Non-hypocritical worship.” One of my favorite Casting Crowns songs is “Praise You in this Storm.” Sooooo, was I going to act like a Punk-rocker and then go inside and raise my arms in praise as they performed that song? Besides, as bad as this was (possibly not getting into a concert that we drove 3 hours to see), could it even really be considered a “storm?” If we won’t praise God in a drizzle, what will we do when a real storm comes? Part 3, “How to Praise God in a Storm.” Unlike the goofy doctrine going around today that judges spirituality through emotions, praising God in difficult situations will always be preceded by right thinking, or *biblical thinking.*

First, God is up to something in every circumstance of life. In fact, he is usually taking care of all kinds of business in every event. For starters on this point, read the book of Esther and Jonah. Secondly, we are here on assignment as ambassadors; sometimes ambassadors get called away from fun activities to do the kings business. That’s not always pleasant, but take heart, I hear we have a great retirement package that will more than make-up for it. Thirdly, we should delight in the fact that the Lord is willing to trust us with difficult assignments. However, if we are focused on our own agenda, it won’t be very pleasant, and the Lord will keep sending the same assignments till we get it right. You ever see a route map of where God led the Israelites in the wilderness? He was running them around in circles until they started having light-bulb moments, and some of them never did make it out of the wilderness.

I’m sure Susan has figured out by now that one of the things she is going to have to consistently remind me of is our weekly Bible studies. But more importantly, both of us must remember that life is theology, and if life is lived in a way that pleases God, it will be lived out in good theology. That’s what our Bible studies are all about, learning good theology for living. And don’t worry, God will always supply the circumstances that show us what we have really learned, and to give us opportunity to accomplish His will.

paul