Sunday, January 19, 2003
Sunday, January 19, 2003
May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
which
the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
A few moments later the bell rang and Doris moved toward Bob to say good-bye. In doing so
she
placed her hand on his right arm. Instinctively Bob's arm went into a rigid flex, and Doris
exclaimed, "Wow! You've really got a muscle there." Bob quickly replied, "Yeh? You oughta
feel
it when I flex!"
While Bob's friends looked on, he took this progression one step farther. Bob tightened up his
abdomen as solid as he could, and said through clenched teeth, "C'mon, Doris. Hit me in the
stomach as hard as you want. It won't even hurt me." A crowd began to gather to watch.
"Are you serious, Bob?" Doris asked. "I can hit you as hard as I want?"
"No problem," he cockily replied. Bob thought he caught a wild glimmer in Doris' eye as she
reared back, wound up, and buried her fist in his middle. She pulled back waiting for him to
fold.
She wasn't the only one. Bob's friends looked silly with their mouths open. Bob looked at Doris
as straight as he could with crossed eyes and repeated: "NO PROBLEM!" Then he politely
took
his leave, walked around the corner, opened up his locker, and lost everything he'd just had for
lunch.
Recalling this incident from his youth Bob Laurent concludes, "I don't believe I've ever really
gained anything by trying to impress people; it's a game for losers, and the world can keep it."
Is there anyone who hasn't wanted to impress someone somewhere along the way? Maybe it
was a member of the opposite sex. Maybe it was your friends. Why talk in the past tense?
There
are people you and I enjoy impressing right now. Perhaps it's our peers on the job. I can tell
you
that pastors like to impress one another. And I suspect that's true of doctors and lawyers and
teachers and most people. Most of us want to impress someone. We want to be recognized as
someone special, someone of significance, someone to be reckoned with. It's a universal
instinct, is it not? We like to look good in the eyes of others.
Of course, there is only one who is truly impressive, and it is Jesus Christ who died for you and
me on the cross.
(Galatians 6.14
NRSV)
One day in high school during lunch hour Bob Laurent was standing around with a group of
guys. Suddenly, the only girl in the whole school who could make the corneas of Bob's eyes
steam up walked right up to him and said very silkily, almost musically, "Hi, Bob." Bob wasn't
ready for this bold greeting. He recalls that the entire left side of his face started twitching. He
stuttered out, "Uhh-h-h, Hi ya, Doris."
Loving God, may the one who is truly impressive fill me with your spirit. Amen.
