Norby, Pearl, and Feeling Comfortable with Yourself

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

Norby, Pearl, and Feeling Comfortable with Yourself

            Amplifying a tad, Paul wrote, “As long as Jesus is the focus and filter, there are different ways of honoring and serving Him; and when we honor and serve Him, we will help others in their relationships with Him and each other…We each have different work to do.  We belong to each other.  Each needs all the others.”

            While I don’t think that needs much exposition, it means we are interdependent in our dependence upon Him. 

            Humanity is like a puzzle.

            God makes the pieces.

            When we recognize how we fit in with each other and how we must fit in with each other to complete the puzzle, we are corporately as well as individually satisfied.

            Back to Paul, “Every one has at least one gift to share with others for the common good…There are different gifts, but it is the same God who is the source of them all.  There are different kinds of service in the Church, but it is the same Lord who is being served.  There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us.  Everybody can do something and the entire Church is helped when everybody weaves their different gifts together into the fabric of the Church to honor Him which always helps everybody else…Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body.  We are all parts of His one body, and each of us has different work to do.  God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.  We need each other.  That’s how He made us.”

            Again, we are interdependent in our dependence upon Him.

            The Church is at His best when we recognize that interdependence and incarnate it.

            Norby brought that to my attention during the first worship service on August 21.

            Mona had just finished one of her masterpieces; and as I was getting ready to do my singing nun bit, he said just loud enough for everybody to hear, “Now follow that!”

            Norby is my friend; and it was more about him thanking God for Mona than reminding me that I had a tough act to follow.

            But it provided one of those special kairos moments and we went with it/Him.

            Feeling the Spirit, I said, “You know, friends, I’ve never felt in competition with anybody else; and I’ve always felt that it sounds kinda silly and spiritually vacuous when one speaker or musician following another speaker or musician says/asks, ‘How can I follow that?’”

            Can’t.

            Everybody is unique and excellent in His own way!

            I quoted those verses from Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 and then said, “We’re like snowflakes.  We’re all individuals.  We’re all beautiful individually by His design.  When we’re together and recognize that, it’s really something beautiful for Him and each other.”

            As Fred would often say from his neighborhood, “I like you just the way you are!”

            I’ve often felt God saying to us, “I like you just the way you are!  I made you your way!”

            I thank God…and Norby…and those present for that service on August 21 for a very, very, very special kairos moment to be reminded that everyone is special in His sight by design; which means we can thank Him for each other and that we’re all special in each other’s sight.

            Of course, there will always be people from the dark side who try to put us down for our individuality and want to redesign us as if they are…

            Ouch.

            Pearl comes to mind.

            Over three decades ago, she made an appointment to see me to tell me how much she hated my beard.

            Whoa.

            Some people think they are…

            You know what I mean.

            Anyway, I found out she didn’t like my beard because her son had a beard and she didn’t have a good relationship with her son and when she saw me…

            Get the picture?

            I shaved it off.

            The very next week after worship when I expected her to show some sugar, she said, “Now about your moustache…”

            So don’t bother to mess with my Duck Dynasty look!

            Some people like to mess with God’s design; and when we do that, the Church – the body of Christ – just doesn’t work righteously.

            When we’re wrong, nothing works right.

            When I figured out what Paul was trying to tell us about God’s design of interdependence so we would depend upon Him to get along and get ahead and live with personal as well as corporate satisfaction, I stopped criticizing how other people dressed and cut and colored their hair if they have it or combed correctively if they didn’t have it or inked or…

            You know what I mean.

            But just in case you don’t know what I mean, let me put it as simply as I can.

            God made you.

            God loves you.

            God sent His Son to save you.

            You are His now and forever.

            Only He designed you and only He defines you.

            Everybody else who thinks they have the right to say and do what only He has the sovereignty and saving power to say and do can go to…

@#$%

Blessings and Love!

@#$%