The Plumbline

Look in the mirror. What do you see? Today you may see a new blemish on your cheek, a little puffiness under your eyes, or a few wayward gray hairs that seem to have a mind of their own. Look a little bit longer and you may realize you need to pluck a few hairs, deep clean a few pores, or see the dentist for a teeth cleaning. We 'see' what we want to see, don't we? There are days when I look in the mirror and just give myself a cursory glance. It is like a really quick once over to just make sure all the hair is down, there isn't anything dribbled down the front of my shirt, or that the outfit doesn't make me look too heavy. Other days I find that chin hair that sprung up out of nowhere, or noticing for the first time how tired I look after a particularly grueling set of circumstances have taken their toil on my body. We see what we want to see so many times, but at others we can see things we probably didn't want to see. God sees both - the things we want him t

I like to watch the cop shows and then try to figure out the "who done it" of the show. One of the things we see repeatedly in these shows is the cops questioning individuals who have witnessed the crimes - they want to capture as accurate of a description of the suspect as possible. Have you ever been asked to describe God - to give an accurate description of who he is? It is harder than you might think! We take a deep breath, then launch out into some kind of lengthy explanation of what God does, how he moves among us, what he has created, but these are his actions, not necessarily a description of HIM. All the while we are describing his actions, we are really struggling with getting anything "concrete" in our answer of who we know him to be in our lives. Try it! It is hard! David had a really good way of describing God - simple and to the point - light, space, and zest! Light, space, zest— that's God! So, with him on my side I'm fearless, afraid of no o