Picture This!

I went to the very last College World Series game at Rosenblatt last night. It was a fun evening as I got to use company tickets to entertain guests- which meant I had great seats right behind the first base dugout and a VIP pass to get into the air-conditioned glass clubhouse which came with all the food and drink we wanted. It's nice to see how the other half lives once in awhile!

We had a perfect evening- cool with only the slightest of breezes. And on this perfect evening, the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th and 11th innings, something sort of amusing happened. On every pitch, hundreds of flashes went off. It was quite the sight really- the stands lit up with points of light as fans tried to catch for posterity a picture of the last winning hit at Rosenblatt. Finally that hit came and I am sure there are pictures of it all over the city this morning.

Pictures are amazing- how they can capture more than a moment. They also capture for us the history or maybe the excitement and feelings we had. I have on my wall at work a picture I took of Jake playing basketball at the University of Missouri in front of their student section. The photo shows Jake shooting a 3-pointer (which he made) and a high flying Missouri player trying to block the shot. If you look close enough you can see the ball in mid-air and Jake (in green) still in shooting form. It's a great picture that captures the excitement and thrill of the moment.




How great would it be to have pictures of our greatest moments? The times when you were at your very best- not just in sports or fun things like vacations, but at your very best as a Christian- helping others, encouraging, loving. How great would it be to not only see those moments again but feel the love and excitement and thrill of them?

On the other extreme, this past weekend I saw a show from Israel that talked about Peter and his denial of Christ. And in the courtyard of this church in Israel was a statue of Peter and his denial. So Peter gets more than a photo, he gets a life-size recreation of the worst moment of his life? How would we like that? 'Oh, and this statue over here is a tribute to my worst selfish and sinful act ever- thankfully only one occurance of my shortcomings has been saved for posterity for everyone to see.'

Truth be told, the world couldn't hold all the statues to shortcomings we would need if we each got one - not to mention if we each could have more than one for each of our most noteable foibles. I could build a museum around my statues of badness. 'And over here in this wing of my museum we have my greed collection which is next to my mean-ness masterpieces, behind my recent additions of coveting.' I'd have the Louvre of 'Peter' statues. Maybe your collection would rival mine?

Sherri and I made a poster out of Jake's cool Missouri picture which he then put up in his room. What a fun reminder for him of a fond memory. One day God will blow up the picture of His forgiveness and love into an eternal heavenly monument just for us - what a cool way to always remember what He did for us! Now that's a picture worth remembering, worth lighting up the stands of our church for to carry around with us in our heart for a lifetime. See you photo-friendly people Sunday.

Blest Regards,
kp