Weekly Thoughts

12/21/07 – Christmas Thoughts, George Bailey

Hi all,

Some holiday introspection this week: I get moody this time of year and I know why. It's George Bailey's fault. You know George, or at least know of him. He is the lead character in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life". The fact is, I identify with George Bailey and every time I see "It's a Wonderful Life" in the TV schedule I'm reminded about how I've sacrificed my life and what I want, for the good of others.

Funny how a small thing like "It's a Wonderful Life" can (annually) stir things in a person.

George Bailey was the kid who grew up always doing what was right rather than what he really wanted to do. He wanted to go off to college, but had to run the family business due to family needs. He wanted to take a honeymoon, but there was a run on the bank so he used his honeymoon savings to save the family business. He kept wanting to get out of town but ended up doing what was right for others rather than  himself, building equity in the family and friendships around him rather than the riches of the world.

And that's the rub - The pull of life as you once imagined it was going to be versus the riches of knowing Christ and what life is today. In what have we built our equity?

George Bailey ala John Fenn: For me it was my dad telling us four kids when I was 11 1/2 (and the oldest): "I'm divorcing your mother and I'm divorcing you kids. There won't be any birthdays, holidays, vacations, ball games, nothing." It was as brutal then as it sounds now,. perhaps more so then because that was 1969, when divorce was not common and we were 6, 8, 10, and 11 1/2. He was true to his word, marrying another woman and promising to raise her two children as his own, building a nice house with indoor pool across town for his new and improved family.
Mom later apologized about the responsibilities she put on me during ages 12 through 17. It wasn't until I was 17 years old and 6' 6" that she realized she had treated me as if I was 17 at age 12 and 13. "You were just so darn tall, I'm sorry I treated you older than what you were, maybe the Lord has used it for your good."

He did - helping with my 2 brothers and sister while she went to night school for her MBA and worked out of a bedroom office, the Lord had me looking at the big picture when I was just becoming a teen. 
When I was born again I gave my whole heart and soul to the Father, and promised to do what he wanted me to do in life, knowing that whatever he had for me would be greater than anything I could plan for myself. To the cross were nailed my own dreams - taking over the family business or using that as a springboard for other riches, the Country Club, a boat and lake house, maybe an airplane like my dad had, and so forth.

It all got nailed to the cross when I was 17, but have you noticed sometimes how that old stuff wants to pull the nails out and come down off the cross every now and then? That isn't to say the Father won't give some of those types of things, but they must be of his doing, not the flesh.

We have all laid down our plans to one extent or another just like George Bailey did in the movie and I did in real life, and perhaps some readers have lived long enough to look in the rearview mirror and wonder "what if?" Some of my "what ifs" were these: What if I had taken one of the small college basketball scholarships? What if I had become a Marine Biologist like I wanted, what if I studied ships and sailing and went into the Coast Guard or Merchant Marine? What if I had majored in Russian in college like my heart was telling me instead of Business Administration? When you're young life can go in so many directions; what if?

During this time of year when we remember the sacrifice Jesus made to come to this earth in human flesh, emptying himself of all his rights and privileges as God's Son, perhaps it's also good to remember that he could have wanted to do something other than be born in a stable to grow up as a mere child and eventually, a carpenter.

That is the wonder after all, isn't it? When the angels announced "Peace on earth, good will towards men" they were saying that the Father has good will towards mankind, and the proof was lying on the hay in a livestock food trough in the form of a 7 pound or so baby named Jesus.
We think of ourselves as disciples of Jesus wanting to emulate him in every way - but perhaps the core of being a disciple is giving up what we want out of life in order to become more like him - considering our lives already dead so that what does live is purely God, purely God's plans. Submission to someone doesn't mean just giving in to do their will while retaining our own intentions beneath the surface; it means to give over our will completely to the Father so that his will IS our will.

I remember driving back to our hometown of Kokomo, Indiana one Thanksgiving weekend with family in tow. I was the pastor of a small church in Colorado and we owned an old Chevy Impala - you know the one - big enough to put a family of 5 and all their belongings into for a 1200 mile 2 day drive across the country, and that included Chris' folded up walker and leg braces in the trunk.

I wanted to see some old family friends on Thanksgiving Day so drove out alone to a friend we called "Trip". Trip was called Trip because he was the third first-born son with the same name, so Trip was short for Triple. If you knew his real name you'd be glad we called him Trip.

His dad and mom were so close to us after the divorce that they became known to us as "Uncle and Aunt". They owned a business that was quite lucrative - we used to play basketball in Trip's basement if that gives you an idea, and we spent many summers up at their lake house.

That Thanksgiving I drove to their house in the early afternoon hoping to catch everyone just before dinner, and the timing was perfect. As my old Impala wound it's way up the drive past the tennis courts in the side yard, past the BMWs and Volvos and Mercedes, I started feeling jealous and angry. There I was serving God on the prairie of Colorado where the deer and antelope really do roam, with a handicapped son, wondering how we would have the money to even drive the 1200 miles there, not to mention all the way back, and there they were living the Country Club life I had grown up in but turned away from; seeing all their dreams fulfilled.
But on the way back to my own family I redoubled my commitment to the Father and his will, realizing that eternity is a long time. Ephesians 2:7 says he saved us "so that in the ages to come he can continue to show you the exceeding riches of his grace towards us in Christ Jesus."

A few years ago I had spent a series of late summer nights in our back yard looking at the stars - and kept bugging the Father about whether there is life out there other than earth. One night he said this: "I created all the universe to day one, then I turned my creative attention to the earth. One day I will return to the rest of the universe and start again where I left off."

I suddenly realized what Genesis was telling us: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." He left the universe alone after that verse and that's what we see out in space, the universe held in embryonic form, the Father choosing to focus his development from that point forward on the earth. But one day he will develop the rest of the universe as he did the earth, and I believe when that happens he is going to do so with us in mind, that we will one day administer the universe.

We must keep in mind that you and I are already living in eternity. One day we will have glorified bodies, bodies made of eternal heavenly material, able to travel anywhere we want at the speed of thought. When I was 17 the Father told me this one day: "You'll find when you receive your glorified body that it is not subject to the natural laws of the earth." I asked what he meant and he replied: "If you want to run, you can run. If you want to float, you can float. If you want to fly you can fly, and if you want to be somewhere at the speed of thought, you can be there."
When I think of all I've sacrificed; and not just worldly riches or not having the freedom to be involved in business; but I mean sacrificing character issues and personal development and time and energy my whole life long for others, to see them able to grow in Christ, to give them a portion of what I have and where I'm going, my thoughts turn to eternity and the big picture of what it's all about.

And that's the wonder of Christmas, that there IS an eternity in which the Father is waiting to show us the riches of his kindness towards us. There IS a new body waiting, there IS a Savior who humbled himself to become one of his creations so that he could one day take us to his Home.

I'd like to think George Bailey found peace and fulfillment in the last scene of the movie with his family and friends around, proving he really is the richest man in town. And for those of us who identify with George - all we've sacrificed for the Lord, all we've given of ourselves that others may go deeper in Him, we too can say in truth, we are the richest people in town, and beyond.
 
Merry Christmas,
John Fenn