Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
Under the Radar Theme of the Week: Getting Down and Getting Human Thursday, December 23, 2004
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Men of IntegrityNovember/December 2004Under the RadarTheme of the Week: Getting Down and Getting HumanThursday, December 2376
Key Bible Verse: This is the great mystery of our faith: Christ appeared in the flesh.… He was believed on in the world and was taken up into heaven (1 Timothy 3:16). Bonus Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:13
The scandalous nature of the Incarnation captivates non-Christians too. In the 1990s, Joan Osborne, a little-known, brassy, irreverent feminist, sang what became a mainstream hit. "One of Us," written by Eric Bazilian, a former member of a one-hit Philadelphia band, has God coming to our postmodern world as a "slob," a stranger on a bus.
By their own admission, neither Bazilian nor Osborne knew what they were doing in the creation of this song. "I never thought about any of it," Bazilian said about the lyrics in a Washington Post story. "I just take credit for being the scribe. Whoever dictated this piece knew where it was going." "We have this theory," Osborne added, "that this song is a living creature with a mind of its own that used Eric to be born and used me to spread its message throughout the world."
"One of Us" was largely rejected by the Christian subculture for an ambivalence and irony that seemed to belittle God's greatness and goodness. Yet its central message is hard to ignore: If Jesus was the Son of God and "one of us," if we could actually see God's face in human form—we'd then have to believe the whole story.
—John Fischer in Finding God Where You Least Expect Him
My Response: How has seeing Gods face in the Gospels made Him real to me?
Thought to Apply: My only rule: If you understand something, its no mystery.
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