Ever notice that old country music, aka hillbilly music, has a distinctly Hawaiian sound coming from the steel guitar? Why? Because Nashville hadn't yet developed the non-Polynesian tuning we know today. Why does that matter to me? It's not the sound that intrigues me, it is the story. Further, do you know where the hillbilly comes from? Hillbilly originally referred to Scottish or Irish settlers who lived in the Appalachians. billie is a synonym for fellow and hill stands for hill. So Hillbilly would be a fellow who lives in the mountains or foothills.
This is how life presents itself to me. I have information coming in through various sources and I process them with the knowledge I already possess on the subject. I fit things together like puzzle pieces, then I stand back and admire the intricate tapestry of time. I am woven into it, my part may be a swift cross stitch or it may be a centerpiece. I do not care. If I spent my time wondering about greatness I would never achieve it.
There is a quote that someone says. I find it ridiculous. It goes something like, "Do something so big, God would be embarrassed to not show up." Really people? Either God has directed you to do something or He has not. We can build large monuments like the Bakkers and Swaggarts and Billy Graham and the Tower of Babel and He will show up.
He shows up every time to thwart the imperialist leanings of men. He shows up every time we think we are so big that we don't need Him. He shows up every time Billy calls the audience to respond to an altar call. Make no mistake, God is there.
The ramifications of the quote by itself are preposterous. It is a dare that screams "I am doing something...so honor it!" But God is no respector of man. And what is the definition of big? Is it the granduer of a stadium and 50,000 people crying out to God in unison? Is it giving change to a bum on fourth and then walking away? What is big? Are we stretching our imagination into the territory of vanity?
Why was Jesus so "big?" It was because He magnified the Father. He was tangible, He alone was righteous, He was God incarnate in flesh. How can we be "big?" By living like Jesus. By being tangible to people; that is to be felt by the needy, to be seen by the poor, to love your neighbor and listen when they need to pour out there troubles. We are big when we are little. When we are humble and lift of Christ, even as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness. He is the answer. There is nothing in us but Christ that can prevail. We can be big by being righteous; by living justly and by loving mercy.
The life that honors God is the life that God shows up in. At the end of our existence will we step back and say, "the crowds were there, but they were fickle. The stadiums were full, but no one responded." Or will we say, "I went into the crowds and gave them what I had in Christ. That is the only answer I know."
Please, look at life and where you are as the story of time. Everything that has happened thus far as led to you like a single stitch and weave from beginning with Adam to the end of Omega. See the tapestry, make the stitch, do your part.
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Brandon, this blog really touched me. I believe God shows up in the "small things" much more often than in the great schemes of men. Remember in Honduras, the concrete slab that was used as a gathering place up on that hill by the base camp and that young woman with the sick baby that came for prayer because her milk had dried up. And how after we prayed and she put the baby to her breast that the milk was flowing so much that it was running out of his mouth. God showed up. He showed himself faithful once again. I believe the reason He showed up was that the woman was humble enough to come and ask for prayer. It was nothing we did as a team, although He used us as a vehicle, it was never about us. He restored the milk and healed that baby by His great love.
Several months ago, a certain man was taking a walk and felt the Holy Spirit tug on his heart to go into a store. He went into that store and started sharing the love of God with the only other person there. That person re-dedicated his life to the Lord. It was never about the certain man, it was God's way of reaching the man in the store, showing His love.
God always shows up when we are obedient to do what He tells us to do. He is always proding us along, trying to take us to the greener pasture, like the Good Shepherd that He is.
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