Karaoke Star

Last week I had a theme in my home.  Do you ever have themes that seem to keep appearing?  You know, that "something" that keeps coming up no matter where you are or what you are doing, that is a theme.  Our theme was obedience.  You see, Jason kept all of his Lego's and many other toys from when he was a child.  He kept most of them in their original boxes and the building instructions that go with each set.  When we brought them from his parents house we threw away most of the boxes and combined them together as one very large and obtrusive mass of Lego pieces.  He saved them as his gift for his son and he has already given many of them to him.  But here recently our youngest boy wants the pieces that build a city.  Now you must understand that not only did Jason keep all of his original Lego toys, but we have also bought our children new ones.  Lets just say, "We have tens of thousands of Lego's!"  Do you know what a mess this can make in our home?!  Our son wants to build a Lego home and he wants to start with ours!!  Jason already built the boys a Lego table in their room, a special place just for their enjoyment.  However, they cannot play there, it is covered with toys piled upon toys.  Solution, organize the Lego's.

Our youngest is just about to turn 7.  He is the one that is obsessed with the Lego's.  So this is what Jason told him almost a month ago, "Sort your Lego's by color.  Put the white ones in this bucket.  Put the red ones in this bucket.... and so on.  Once you have sorted the Lego's, I will give you the rest of what I have.  If you want all that I have to give you, you must show me that you are responsible enough to have them." 

We worked with our son.  We encouraged him.  We pleaded with him for three weeks to listen to us so that he could receive all that his father had to give him.  For three weeks this went on until that fateful day, Father's Day.  Jason wanted to take the family to see a movie, but the instructions were that in order to receive the prize the Lego clean up had to be completed.  The end result, the child was banished from playing with the Lego's he had already received and he is not going to get what his father had prepared for him.

The week of obedience.  During this week I had one line from a country music song singing within my mind.  I don't even listen to country music any more, but this song would not stop playing!  "She's a big star at Banana Joe's Bar where she sings karaoke every night."  Just this one line playing over and over like a skip on the CD.  Over and over.  I didn't get to the rest, I just landed on the truth of what we all do everyday, all of the time.  Our Father has a gift for us.  He has something that He saved for us before we were even born.  He has a plan for our future, a gift we can delight in.  But, we do not get past the moments of playing with what we see right in front of us.  We do not stay strong and we settle for something that is small.  We can still enjoy our time.  We can sing in a small bar with only a few people looking on, but the ultimate prize we throw away because the work just seems too much.  We want to play now, because the right now is all we can focus on.

We all do this, I do this.  I grab a large helping of sweets.  I know that in order to function tomorrow, in order to enjoy this life tomorrow, I have to be diligent with what I eat, but I don't.  I eat what is placed right in front of me.  I want that desert.  BUT I do not just take a simple bite to enjoy, I go into indulgence mode and fill my plate.  Then after that is over I sneak another bite or two from the refrigerator.  The next day, do I fill satisfied?  Do I fill energetic and ready to play with my kids?  Do I feel ready to get what needs to be done for the days agenda? Noo!  All I want to do is sleep.  Am I willing to give up everything God has planned for me over one simple indulgence?  I must be, I do it all of the time, but I do not want to. I want to get to the end of my time here with endurance.  I want to finish this life out with energy and a fire that cannot be extinguished.  I want to affect many people on this journey.  I want them all to see the life that I have sung.  I do not want to settle for being a karaoke star in some unknown bar.  I want my life to be a song the whole world can sing.  I want to be Christ's big star.  I want all of the plans that God has for my life.  I do not want to settle.  Do you?

Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. "