Inspiration in Unusual Places

So this will probably be a short one but I just wanted to share some unusual inspiration moments I had recently. The first was while I was riding the bus the other day and listening to U2. I was listening to City of Blinding Lights off of their latest album (at least unless a new one has come out since I moved here). So rumor has it that this song was written after Sept. 11, after U2 did a concert in NYC. Don't know if it's true but an interesting bit of info, but anyway, I was listening to this song while riding the bus and one line just stuck out to me. The line is this "Oh you look so beautiful tonight/in the city of blinding lights." So here I am on a bus in the middle of a city of 1.5 million people (rough guess), and this phrase just jumped out at me. Other parts of the song say, "don't look before you laugh/look ugly in a photograph/flash bulbs and purple irises the camera can't see/I've seen you walk unafraid/I've seen you in the clothes you make can you/see the beauty inside of me/what happened to the beauty I had inside of me." So I don't know, this may not strike you the way it did to me but there are so many things that photos of places like this can't tell. Like personality or like the people behind the faces. And I started to think, What would this world look like if we all actually acted like this? What would happen if we saw the beauty that is written into each person we share a bus with, see on the highway, sit across from in the doctor's office? Or even harder in the ones who harm us, cut in front of us, talk down to us? What would happen if we looked for God's image in everyone we saw? I think the world would be a little different.

Another song that jumped out of me I heard just a little while later off the same album called Crumbs from Your Table. In this song Bono sings, "You're as pretty as a picture/It was all there to see/Then your face caught up with your psychology/With a mouth full of teeth/You ate all your friends/And you broke every heart thinking/Every heart mends/ ANd you speak/with signs and wonders/But I need something other/I would believe if I was able/But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table." When I heard this it just came clear to me that so often we search for the right words or the right things to say but sometimes it's the right actions. The last two lines where he says he would believe if he was able but he's waiting on the crumbs just really got to me. How do we make them able to believe? It's kind of like in every context we need to find what the crumbs are they are waiting for. If we show them that love then just maybe they will begin to see the love that we have for Christ and that He has for us!

For the third thing, this one comes from the most unusual place of all, the movie Hitch. I just finished watching it and one line just, unprovoked, jumped out and grapped me. Towards the end Albert says to Hitch, "I get you, you sell this stuff (love) but you don't believe in it yourself." Hitch says, "Love is my life," then Albert responds, "NO, ...it's your job!" When I heard this I was struck dumb it felt like. How easy it is to entertain the questions above or the questions of faith, or the Christian life in such a detatched way. It is so easy to make Christianity our job instead of our life. But Jesus doesn't ask for that, he wants us in a relationship with him...a living, vital and moving relationship. When that is the case it is an adventure to figure out all these things because we are living intimately with our Lover. In the movie, Hitch thought he had love figured out when in the end everything he thought he knew was wrong when he fell in love. I think this is the same with us in Christianity. We can think we know it all, but that all goes away when we fall in love with Christ. Then all these questions are still there but they are more an exchange between us and Christ, we follow him, and he leads, and we learn on the route. We don't have to know it all beforehand, it doesn't have to be our job...but it does have to be our lives!

Well this was longer than I had intended but I hope it has been a blessing. Thanks to you all for your prayers...I have an exam tomorrow so pray for that if you get this before 10:00am. If after just pray that the next phase of learning goes well. I'm about to start what is called the subjunctive tense..which I learned in college but I'm sure this will be much more intense. There are some missionaries here who still don't understand this tense...so I need the prayer!!!!