I’ve been thinking about our fair lately. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because it’s such a big deal. It’s got a stock show, carnival, BBQ cook off, rodeo, quilts, jars of jelly and music. I remember several years a go Jerry Jeff Walker was the headliner and who doesn’t like Jerry Jeff Walker. And wow, who can forget when George Strait paid us a visit?!
The fair also has a beauty p ageant. W e c rown a high school girl Fair Queen every year. The Blonde was a contestant back in the day, when she was 17 and when our youngest daughter Klaire was seventeen she competed as well. Klaire walked away with Miss Congeniality, her and three girls left the stage with roses - all the others - not so much. We were all pleased with her title, in some ways Miss Congeniality is better than Fair Queen, but don’t tell the fair queen or first runner up I said that. It’s just that having a pleasant personality, being somewhat popular and being nice goes a lot further than not being popular, not being pleasant and not being nice.
I’m a professional Christian so I have to put everything into a context of following Jesus. It’s my filter and when I think about Jesus somehow I don’t see Him winning the same title. I don’t even think the twelve that were closest to Him would vote Him as congenial. That’s not to say we should not be nice or pleasant, but in the bigger spiritual picture we should keep in mind they don’t pull the beard and spit on the popular guy.
I think Jesus was somebody you thought twice about before you invited Him to your dinner party. Jesus was controversial. People were and people still are torn between really loving Jesus and making the necessary changes in order to really follow Jesus. See, following Jesus is a big deal too. In Mark 8:34 Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”
Now listen to what Proverbs 14:12 tells us, “There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death.”
Some would say, “Let’s not overthink this Christianity thing.” In other words, let’s keep it in perspective. We all have lives right? We gotta work, we gotta eat, we gotta keep J. Crew in business, we gotta rest and we gotta have a release (think golf, hunting, gardening, travel, family, dogs and cats) and that way seems right, right, “seems” being the key word in that phrase. We all want a nice, easy Christianity but it doesn’t exist (Matthew 7:13-14). Gotta go, Miss Congeniality is calling me.
He told me to tell you that.
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