My cousin and her husband were affected by a house fire a couple of years ago. They lived in an apartment complex and a young child had left a candle burning and it caught the couch on fire. Almost immediately, the building was in flames. They ended up having to move into an extended stay hotel until the apartment complex was able to find other housing for them. They were very fortunate and were allowed back into their home to get some personal belongings. I remember going thru the apartment with her. Dark soot lined the window sills, all of the fabric on couches and clothes were ruined. She was the most concerned about her pictures. Our family is incredibly close and we are constantly getting together for celebrations and holidays. Each time we meet there are many MANY many cameras amongst us. The flash keeps flashing and the film keeps developing! Her photo albums were so important to her and had so much meaning to her.
Take a look at the right side of my blog. All along the side of my posts are pictures of the people that are very special and dear to me. They are my family and my friends who I love a lot! Take a look at your photos..... they are personal. They represent and capture some of the most amazing memories of your life.
When you travel to new places and take pictures sometimes you take pictures of buildings and skylines and pretty scenery. You capture the landscape or a beautiful flower. These pictures are indeed beautiful and can be enjoyed... but what made Katie so upset was not losing pictures of buildings and landscapes but losing pictures of family and friends! A picture of a building is just that.... a picture of a building. But a picture of a building with your family in front of it, all of a sudden it has meaning and value to you. You have personalized it and made it your own.
The same can be true of our relationship with Christ and of our committment to our faith and discipline as a child of God. You can know all the facts about God.... you can read the Bible and decide that it is a good literary work. You can go to church and leave thinking that your pastor is a good public speaker. When we do those things.... we are missing out. Instead when we get into a personal relationship with Christ and we go to church to worship and study God's Word, when we begin to pray and read the Bible and apply it to our life, it becomes personal. It becomes real. Like those pictures with our family and friends, our relationship with Christ begins to have meaning. The services we attend, the worship we have, the time in the Word all begins to have value for us.
All of a sudden its not just words on a page or a good speech ... Its a love letter written specifically for you. Its a sermon designed to challenge and change you. All of a sudden its not just the "man upsatairs" but your personal Lord and Savior whome you talk to and pray to daily. All of a sudden its not just another homeless guy.... its Jesus! Believe this; when your faith and your committment to Christ becomes real and personal it will change your life! If you allow it, that relationship and love will transform you! It will become the most important relationship and your most valued posession.
