Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Choose your own adventure

I was watching an interesting sermon from Joyce Meyers the other day talking about how Jesus made all the right choices while He was here on Earth. I wanted to blog about that earlier but, as some of you can tell, my mind has been directed elsewhere lately. But now that the family incident in question is behind me, I'd like to get back on track (Thanks endlessly to EACH OF YOU for your comments and prayers. They mean a lot!)

Getting back to the point at hand, for this particular post I thought that I'd take some of the more difficult choices that Jesus had to make and put them into a choose your adventure book. Here's how I imagine it would look...

=================================================

Page 1:

Imagine your life. You weren't born into the wealthiest family. Your friends aren't exactly the most the highly renowned people in the society. Your job doesn't pay you six figures and gives you a car, a laptop, and an expense account. You've got people out there who hate you for no vaild reason; other than their own insecurities. Nevertheless, God has given you a specific job to do. Do you accept it? If yes, continue to page 2. If no no, go to page 8.

=================================================

Page 2:

Now that you've accepted the terms and conditions of God's job for you:

  • Imagine being left alone in the middle of the dark, while your friends went to sleep on you.
  • Imagine the feeling of being kissed by the very person who is betraying you.
  • Imagine hearing the piercing calls of a rooster; a sound that you didn’t want to hear because it symbolizes that fact that your closest companion just denied knowing you THREE times; even when he promised to NEVER do it once.
  • Imagine the feeling of knowing that you’re about to receive a punishment that doesn’t, by any stretch, fit the crime.

Are you ready to call it quits and give up on God? If yes, go to page 8. If no continue to page 3.

=================================================

Page 3:

Since you've chosen not to give up on God, here comes the real test:

  • Imagine the excruciating feeling of bone chips, sharp pebbles, and punishing leather whipping across your back and tearing your flesh.
  • Imagine the metallic taste of blood in your mouth.
  • Imagine an undersized crown made of prickly thorns being crammed on your head.

Do you give up yet? If yes, go to page 8. If no continue to page 4.

=================================================

Page 4:

So, the disgusting taste of your own blood didn't convince you to give it a rest, huh? Well, here comes the good stuff. Don't say you weren't warned:

  • Imagine the burden of carrying a heavy, splintered cross through an entire town; all while still being beaten.
  • Imagine how hot the dirty, stoned streets are under your feet.
  • Imagine the feeling of the sun beaming down on your mutilated body.

Still not willing to tell God to kick rocks? If yes, go to page 8. If no continue to page 5.

=================================================

Page 5:

If you've gotten this far, I suspect you still haven't learned your lesson yet. Sigh! Oh well...

  • Imagine the numbing pain of sharp nails penetrating your flesh.
  • Imagine the sounds of people mocking you, cheering against you, or challenging you to save yourself.
  • Imagine watching your mother cry out for you.
  • Imagine the crushing blows that your heart takes for each painful breath you draw.
  • Imagine the horrid and pungent taste of vinegar as a thirst quencher.
  • Imagine the sharp pain of being stabbed in your side.

So, at this point you still haven’t thrown in the towel, but you’re getting close. Death is getting closer and closer by the second. But you still have the chance to get out of this before it's too late. Do you? If yes, go to page 8. If no continue to page 6.

=================================================

Page 6:

After everything that you've been through, you finally give in, let out one last cry, and breathe your last breath. Your friends, family, and even your enemies know that this is the end. But is it? Go to page 7

=================================================

Page 7:

Though you're offiically dead, a few strange things will happen:

  • Someday, the stone that seals your death will be rolled away.
  • God will raise you from the darkest, loneliest, and most painful parts of your life.
  • You will resurrect from the world’s evil and appear to the world unscathed.
  • You will one day have a seat next to God on His throne.
  • All of those whom you love and adore will have finally have the chance to be freed from the eternal punishment that comes with sin.

CONCLUSION

=================================================

Page 8:

At some point in this story, you decided to turn away from God's will and avoid the pain and suffering that He required of you. As a result, no blood has been shed for the remission of sin. The curse of sin and death has not been removed. Millions of lamb will have to be slaughtered for man's atonement. Yet the people whom you love will forever remain prisoners of sin. But, it's not as bad as it sounds, right? At least Satan's happy!

CONCLUSION

=================================================

© Inside Andre's Head, Publishing. All rights reserved.

- ACL

12 "Insiders" spoke their mind. Join in...:

Anonymous said...

Awesome page Andre. You've always had an interesting way of describing things! Good job as always.

Glad to see you're doing better guy!

Anonymous said...

QUIT BLOGGING AND GET BACK TO WORK!!!!!!

Greeneyes said...

Andre~ My Greeneyed handsome man

Did you ever think of becoming a man of the cloth ???? you have a passion and a flair for it , Great post and it is one that makes the reader FEEL something .


I hope your family fire has been put out and peace comes easily , thinking about you and keep you in my Prayers .
Take care of yourself Andre ~
Greeneyes

The H.C. said...

Great post Andre,
Good job reminding everyone of the trials of a man who refused to give up his convictions in the face of more pain and ridicule then any of us will ever face.

Andre said...

@ anonymous: Thanks for the compliment. Sometimes I think the way that we describe the whole God/Jesus/Bible thing is pretty bland and watered down. It's fun to sometimes paint a different picture. *Note to Black Baptist preachers: the operative word here is SOMETIMES!

@ JD: Uh...

@ Greeny: Pastor Louis? Uh...no. Pastorialship -- to me -- is something for which you have a calling. It's not just something someone should do just because they may 'want to' (*note: this is not...I repeat...NOT an admission that I'd ever want to do pastor stuff!) To date, I haven't received any such calling.

Don't get me wrong: I love learning new things about the Word. I also love sharing my thoughts, experiences, and learnings with others (hence the whole blog thing). But taking to the next level is not something I'd even be interested in.

By the way, the family thing is OK...I think. For my part, the issues have been done away with. I'm hoping that it's the same all across the board. Thanks again for your concern!

@ HC: Good call HC. Although I like to see myself as a prinicipled person who sticks to his guns (almost to the point of being stubborn. Or so I've been told...) I don't think I'd ever stick to those types of convictions. Jesus was definitely a bigger man than I am.

Of course that goes without saying.

Thanks for your comments.

Anonymous said...

As always, dude, love the blog.
So well-written and thought-provoking.
Maybe I should get back to work too. (interesting how JD should've been working too but conveniently made time to reply) :)
just jivin'....

Thanks Erdna for always making us think.

Andre said...

Hey sis. Thanks for the compliment! As long as you don't get as get as bad as some other sisters who post flyers about my blog, you'll be OK.

By the way, I've got a house rule. You have to leave all the sarcasm to me. While I know that you're just kidding, most people won't. Don't want anybody offended. You know how it is...

Later dude.

Anonymous said...

Hey!

I posted that on my "lunch hour"

:)

Now, both of you, GET BACK TO WORK!!!

:)

The H.C. said...

I don't know Dre, they better not have lost all my posts like last time. At least this time I have them backed up. &+*##@$& Iblogs.

Anonymous said...

Another great post for the record, my friend. Each time I hear or read about Jesus' betrayal, punishment, and death, I'm given new dimension to the story. Here, I can see that Jesus' death was in stages; where He could have pulled out after any one of them. Thank God for His love!

Anonymous said...

leave all the sarcasm to you, aye?
Hmmm...OK?
But dude, You underestimate your readers. I'd like to think that no offense was taken, but if so, that only gives you another topic to blog about...uptight people, who need to be working, verbally attacking strangers over someone else's opinions? ...it could work.
But hey, your page your rules. I get it.
Gotta get back to work?!

Andre said...

@ JD: I can't count the number of hours I've wasted at work blogging, shopping on eBay, or...*ahem*...sleep.

Makes me thankful that I've got an office. *evil grin*

@ Hc: I can see your blog again. Good to know that it's now just blogger.com that has problems.

Silly internet.

@ saved_sinner: Hey Rob. What's going on witcha?

Good points you raised. I'm not sure how many of us are willing to take simple persecutions for our beliefs and convictions no less the punishment that Jesus received.

Again, He's a bigger man than I am! I'm glad about it...

@ Robin: *writing a post about Robin's bad attempts at sarcasm and how she needs to be doing some work*