Slideshows

Every once in a while I enjoy looking through a slideshow of the many many pictures that accumulate in my computer. I usually pick a few folders, arrange the slideshow so that i get three or four pictures zooming in and out of the frame every 5 seconds or so and I listen to some beautiful violin or piano in the background and I let my mind go.

It dawned on me as I was looking at the faces of the people in each shot that these pictures were only telling half stories; they only told the surface. We see the happiness that was captured when someone said "smile". But, what if that's not what they wanted to be doing at that point in their lives. If we were to put a word to the emotion they were really feeling and express it to them as we shot the picture what would we say?, "frown", "yell", "hide", "jump", "run", "pretend", "despair", "cut", "fear", "hit"? If we were to put our lives on a slideshow on our computers, three to four pictures per frame, going through every 5 seconds or so, what images would we collect? Let's cut the crap that we would have nothing but smiling, fashion model shots on the beach with our hair being blown back (for you women) or blue-steeling it up (for you men).

What would your slideshow reveal? Mine would hold shots of pain, some of joy, fear, doubt, insecurity, self-fulfillment, self-loathing, jealousy, pride, Godly deeds, tears, and success. I would have shots of destitute, ones of me shot sitting in the background as life and people passed me by, not really seeing that I was even there. There would be shots of me with my foot on someones head, fist raised high as I judged others, face contorted in evil as I burned them with the "Christian" morals. I would have shots of me reaching down to the lost child, sincere love on my face. There would be images of hate as I viciously clawed at the open back of a friend or a family member as they tried to walk out of my life. And in some I would be placed on a pedestal, feeling the benefits of the limelight from my peers. And that's just a few.

As you compile your slideshow, don't sugar coat your life. Don't leave out the things that you're not proud of. This is the slideshow you'll be giving to God at His Throne in the End, you think He hasn't seen it already? He was the photographer! Play this slideshow, but then I want you to remember who Christ is in your life, and the role He gets to play in this slideshow. He's that last shot where the sun is aglow, the water is spewing perfectly into the air, with grace and power. He's that shot of hope.

"For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! " Romans 5:15. 


And if you don't know Christ yet in your slideshow, I encourage you to read through Matthew 26-28 to find out who He is. Ask  a local pastor or a friend you know is a Christian. Trust me on this one, He makes the Ultimate Pull on the review of your slideshow by the Ultimate Critic.