Those zipper incidents

Do you ever get that feeling that something is just not right? You know that feeling when everyone is giving you a bizarre look? You know that feeling that makes you want to go say, "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, what the heck is wrong with me?!?!?!"

You know, like the pastor that gets up in front of the congregation only to realize that his zipper is unzipped. Kind of takes the punch out of his sermon.

Or the guy, the guy that always likes to smile, walking around with a big ole piece of lettuce stuck in his teeth...and he just can't help but smile. And neither can you.

Better yet, the girl that walks out of the bathroom (after having made sure that she was looking gorgeous) with a long, wet piece of toilet paper stuck onto the bottom of her shoe. She sure is gorgeous, now ain't she?

Or how about the little girls (or big ones too) that walk out of the bathroom, forgetting that their dress is stuck in their underwear...life is full of surprises.

For those that have learned a second language the blunders that one makes in trying to communicate...such as: Jonah was throw overboard during the big "Orange"; is that a new "horse" cut?!?!; or in Arabic the words "hairbrush" and a "man's private part" sound the same to new language learners (in which one proceeds to ask for the "hairbrush" in different colors, only to realize afterward what one is really asking for...)

Or my personal favorite...The loud tourists, the Americans and English especially, that don't understand why everyone is shooting them murderous glances...They don't seem to realize that if they'd shut up everyone would be SO much happier...

I could go on and on listing awkward and embarrassing moments...but I think everyone gets the point.

Spiritually, we all are in the same boat. We all walk around with our zippers un-zipped. The zipper could be classified as Sin.
Not everyone is perfect. We all could list personally embarrassing moments. Moments where we have just wanted to die on the spot.
Just the same, everyone of us is a sinner. We are not perfect.

Ironically we are called to be Perfect. Of course this is like saying to a newborn baby,"Sweetie, you are supposed to go through life without ever, ever embarrassing yourself." Now that's a whole lot of pressure for a kid...
Peter states in 1st Peter 1:14-16, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' " The first time I read that, I thought, "suuuure like that is ever going to happen."

However, it can.

We don't like to be told that we are sinners, just like we hate being embarrassed. But the sad truth is that WE ARE SINNERS.

BUT.

We are also loved by an All-Powerful God. Who "so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)." If we place our trust in Jesus Christ, we will be made holy. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)."
Just like that friend that walks up and quietly pulls you aside to let you know that you've got something in your teeth, or rescues you from those that mock your stupidity in walking out of the bathroom with your dress tucked into your underwear, so Jesus stepped in and took our shame, our sin, and our burdens, so that we might be holy.

Do we merit that? Do we merit that Love?

By no means.

But God still loves us.

The Mona Lisa

You've heard of the Leonardo De Vinci, right?
Right, okay, and you've heard of his famous painting, The Mona Lisa, right?
Yea, it's supposed to be an amazing work of art....

For me when I think of an amazing work of art, I think amazing work of art, right? You know -- big, bright, amazing detail, captivating...etc etc.

Okay, I would like to meet the nut who said that The Mona Lisa qualified to be an amazing work of art. Besides the fact that De Vinci painted her, she really doesn't qualify, in my opinion...except for maybe (just maybe) detail-wise. I'm betting that this nut had a little to much good French wine before he looked at this painting...because it was only afterwards that he insisted that the Mona Lisa stares right at you, no matter where you are standing (including behind it...).

So my experience with the Mona Lisa is well, a typical experience with this painting...basically disappointing.
Anyways, I was in the Louvre with my Dad and my grandparents. Really, the only reason we went was to see the Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo (the most famous of the millions of naked women statues...) and just to say we went. We followed the signs to the Mona Lisa...and got distracted by everything else on the way.
When we got to the huge room (and surprisingly the most crowded...) that she is supposed to be in, we walk in and walk around in circles looking for it...I was looking for some gigantic woman that took up a whole wall. Then we saw her.

A whole wall is dedicated to her. Ironically, she is maybe twice the size of my 14" screen TV (yea I know I am behind the times...it's more like 16" now.) And of course there was a mass (mass = several hundred) of people in front of her and so the size we saw was more like the window on my microwave...which is small by the way.

Now my Grandmother, Grammy, like any good tourist wanted pictures of the painting. I don't blame her either, if you are there you had better take pictures because the likely hood of wanting to come back is slim when you stand in line to see paintings all day...

Being the good grandson that I am, I volunteered to barge through the mass and grab some photos. So I plunged into the mass...hoping that it would open like the Red Sea, but not really believing that it would either...
And was confronted by the notorious B.O. of the French. Never in my life have I been squeezed between so many stinky people at one time. Thankfully it only lasted for about 5 minutes before I popped out on the other side. As soon as I did, I whipped out my camera and started snapping (snap it out). So the Mona Lisa is small enough when you are standing right in front of it, but they make you stand about 10 feet away from it, defeating the purpose of barging to the front of the line.
Nevertheless, I got about 4 pictures of her when I heard a security officer (there were 3 by the way...) start barking at somebody behind me to snap one shot and then move on. So I snapped 2 more (making it 6 photos in all) and then moved on.
As I was moving on, I heard another security officer tell someone else that they couldn't film the Mona Lisa. Immediately I thought, "why?!?!?".....then again why would you film her? It's not like you are gonna catch her eyes moving on film, she wouldn't be that obvious...

And so my Mona Lisa experience ended with those thoughts on my mind....