Impossible Things and Vorpal Swords

Have you ever thought, "This is so ironic"... or wondered if somebody somewhere somehow knew you were needing to hear the thing you heard or watch the thing you watched or read the thing you read right when you heard, watched, or read it? Have you ever felt like somebody somewhere sees you? I have. More times than I can count. To be quite honest, it's beginning to be a regular occurrence... Also to be quite honest, I'm beginning to think that that somebody somewhere is in fact God, and that He enjoys getting my attention this way. Which is encouraging, because it's something I've realized I can't ignore... and I like to think that I can't ignore God.

What I couldn't ignore tonight... was brilliant. Incredibly brilliant. So brilliant that I might poke a hole in my "delete" key trying to get the words right for this. It was colorful, and it was devastatingly loud (to me, anyway... the person who lives my life and could recognize the analogues in the context of my life). It was a match after a parallel after a saying... and they just kept coming as I sat there taking all of them in - my mind imploding as I tried not to cry while these things confirmed and put pictures to what God has been (already) so loudly shouting at me for months... It was all very genius of Him really. God is a genius. And tonight, He spoke to me through Alice in Underland.

I shouldn't have been as shocked I was. Partly because, like you're thinking right now, "It's just a movie. You can find meaning in any movie"... but mostly because, I was afraid of this movie. I've been afraid of it for months. My little sister went and saw it with her friend, and I thought, "I'm afraid of that movie. It looks weird. I don't want to see it." I thought it would be exactly like the cartoon, and I never liked the cartoon - the cartoon scared me. I never watch it anymore.

Well so the story of how I ended up watching this movie goes like this: Tonight, Aubrey picks this movie, Alice in Wonderland, and since I want to try "being brave" on for size, I just go with it. Aubrey doesn't even realize it's 3D, but I do, which scares me more (and ends up being scary for her once she also finds out it's 3D... really funny), but again, I just go with it. Garrett comes too, and we all share popcorn. The movie starts, and I yell, "I'm afraid of this movie!" (I don't normal-yell, of course - the movie has started - I whisper-yell.) After about 30 minutes into it, our suspicions are confirmed that this is not the normal Alice in Wonderland's story... this is Alice in Underland's story, and this one is different. This one is about finding out who you are meant to be, and becoming that who... This one is about believing impossible things, and facing a monster you never thought you could slay. This one is about being brave. And even if the whole time people are guiding you, supporting you, telling you about your destiny and who you used to be before you forgot about your destiny, the choice in the end is still yours... only yours... and YOU must decide to face the monster... because once you decide to grab your weapon, you will need to wield it.

But don't worry too much, "insignificant bearer," the Vorpal Sword knows what to do... you just have to hang on... and believe the impossible...


There were a lot of other things (pictures, words, story lines) that stuck out, but if you aren't me, you probably won't understand God talking to me in them. In light of that, I am glad I am me tonight.
For those of you who aren't me... bummer, it's quite the ride.

Well, go see the movie and have fun! God might call you into a dream of special effects... or wake you up to a reality of your own that you need to face...

Either way, it's worth the 8 bucks and recyclable plastic (if you see it in 3D)!

Gosh, and I was afraid of this movie.... I would have missed some serious muchness...

The way I want, or the way He wants me?

"It may not be the way I would have chosen- when You lead me through a world that's not my home..." (Ginny Owens)

This is an amazing song. And I hear it coming out of my soul right now. The lyrics above catch my attention every time I listen to them... but today, this part means more than I ever really thought it would. You see, God has these plans He works out... this "dream" for my life, if you will (Anyone at the Stirring today?). And sometimes, what happens to me and then what happens next out of that makes total sense in my mind. In fact, it makes so much sense in my mind that I could have planned it myself (so I do plan it). Cause I'm pretty good at figuring stuff like that out (Have you ever taken the Strengths Finder test? One of my top strengths is connectedness... so, ya know... I make the connections)...

Well, sometimes I can't make enough connections to keep up with what God is doing... and what God is doing right now was definitely not included in the string of events that I had all connected and planned out for me about a month ago. Not that that matters much anymore... He has made it clear that His way is best. And He has made it even more clear that His way is leading me on a path I actually thought I was avoiding. "It may not be the way I would have chosen." (Actually, it's not. I know this because I thought about this way multiple times, and I didn't choose it... multiple times.) But now, I am choosing His way. Which leads to the same end I always wanted. It's just that, this way, the me at the end will probably match His dreams a little better...

Someone once told me that God looks at you and sees the "whole-story" you... and that He has instilled hopes in you to align the "now" you with the you "to come."

... So I am encouraged as I press in now to all I've hoped He's shaping me to become.


No matter that it doesn't look the way I always thought.



P.S.
"Pit happens" ...hahaha.... oh Nathan...