The Polar Express

So it is well known in our household that Jack does NOT like "The Polar Express" movie. He is adamant that he does not want to watch it under any circumstances. Gwyneth on the other hand absolutely loves it and can't get enough of it especially at this time of the year.

Jack won't really admit why he doesn't like it except to say that it is for babies. The more I have thought about it and pushed him on the "why" of the whole issue the more I have gotten the idea that maybe he doesn't like it because it is simply a cartoon. There is a longing in him that wants it all to be real (Santa, the North Pole, the elves, the fantasy, etc.) but he knows that since it is a cartoon it is simply not. He asks me a lot if such and such is in "our world". No doubt he also wishes that Spider-Man really did swing throughout New York city and that Batman really was alerted from his bat cave when all was not right in the world. That the day could be saved and the good guys could always win.

I just finished a Beth Moore study and she said in our last session that there is something in us that hates goodbyes. Our hearts and souls cry out that this can't be the end...there must be more. We do hate goodbyes don't we? We dread the end of a sweet time. We dread our kids growing up and leaving. We fear death and saying the inevitable goodbye . We believe in heaven and streets of gold and being perfect and laying our crowns at the feet of Jesus but the sting of endings is still real. We were made for perfection. We began in the garden and were created to walk in beauty yet we have been cast into a world of so much hurt and disappointment and tears that don't seem to have an end. Satan tries from beginning to end to ruin us physically, emotionally and mentally. From the moment we take our first breath, life is flawed. Our parents make mistakes, we fall down (literally and figuratively), our friends leave, spouses disappoint, children move away, and we stand at grave sites and say a final goodbye.

I often think of the story of Jesus on the cross, hanging next to two criminals. One criminal hurled insults at Jesus but the other criminal said, "Don't you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then to Jesus he said, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."

And Jesus answered him with, " Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

That criminal hanging on a cross so many years ago closed his eyes to his sin filled life and reopened them to glory. In an instant he was redeemed and now he is walking in heaven and knows no more pain or sadness or brokenness. He is simply whole and belongs to the Creator. His Creator.

I don't know about you but I am not all that different from the criminal. I have screwed up countless times and grievously sinned against God and man but God continues to redeem my brokenness and make me whole again. I have a choice to make though. The two criminals that hung next to Jesus were experiencing no doubt the same amount of pain and while one insulted Jesus the other chose to ask an almost unthinkable thing. "Remember me." And Jesus not only remembered him but he invited him into paradise. A whole life of mess ups redeemed by the loving Savior. What do I choose to do when life is hard and doesn't really make any sort of sense? Do I insult God and act like the one criminal or do I ask God to remember me?

The truth is, Santa is not real. There is a North Pole but it is pretty desolate. No elves are making toys for Christmas and there is no such thing as flying reindeer much less one with a red nose that lights up but there is a real heaven. We don't know everything about it but we can be reassured that it is perfect and when we get there we will have no more questions and the pain of this passing world will be wiped away. We will be whole and it will never end and there will be no goodbyes. Revelation says, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." I can only imagine.

Until then we are called to walk with God even when life is hard. I read a really good thing the other day on another blog and it was, "Do not doubt in the darkness what the Lord has shown you in the light." Do not forget the good God has shown you even when you are in the pain. We were made for more. As Job said, "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes - I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me." (Job 19:25-27)