Accumulation, Batman Returns, and Contagious

I am SO not ready for today to be the second accumulating snowfall of the winter. Oops. I guess it's still fall. Honestly, folks, it's October 11. There is about 2 inches of white stuff on the ground. My brain tells me that these two things oughta be mutually exclusive. The boys wore snowpants to school today, for goodness sake. Two weeks ago it was 80 degrees. And I love snow, I really do, but I'm just not ready!
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Batman showed up at our house again on Saturday! I'm telling you, he must reverse-migrate or something. He tried to fool me by wearing a TMNT costume, but I could tell it was him by the cape and the mask. I wish I had had the camera so I could snap a picture to prove it to y'all. He showed up later in the day, too, and it seemed as if he had shrunk. I think my brother mentioned this bat-phenomenon in his blog, but I didn't believe it until I saw it myself. It's true--Batman was less than 3 feet tall the second time I saw him (and so darn cute!). Maybe he diminishes in size when he uses his bat-powers and grows again when he gets some rest.
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So our church has a new "motivating vision." I'll just pause so you can digest that a minute.


Our motivating vision is: "Share the joy, live the faith, be the hope." Do you feel motivated now? I kinda do. Yesterday Ruth Ann preached about sharing the joy, and one of the things she said was that Christianity should be contagious. She said that when someone has the flu, there are clear symptoms--you can tell that person has the flu. And she said that the clear symptom of Christ-following is living the joy. That people should see us living in joy, realize that there's something different about us, and want to get some of that. And I agree. It definitely should be that way, but when was the last time you diagnosed someone as a Christian based on their symptoms? To tell the truth, I have met exactly one person in my life in whom I've seen that kind of joy.


I've given some thought to this over the years. You know the song that goes, "they will know we are Christians by our love." I've always thought that song meant it ought to be really obvious who the Christians are because we're showing all this love all the time. But it's not. There are so many loving, generous, kind people in the world, who do not profess Christ. And there are many who claim Christ and are hateful, stingy, greedy, and cruel. I know that I can't be perfect, but it disappoints me that no one call tell that I follow Jesus from the outside. And if I really want to be contagious, if I want people "catch" Christ from me, that special something needs to be crystal clear. It is one of my deepest desires to have someone tell me "there's something different about you. No, in a good way."

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7