A BOOK, A MOVIE, AND A DRIVE

What do you get if you combine a book from a religious instructor at BYU-Provo, the movie "Bruce Almighty, and several separate trips to and from church?

First the book. I was looking through amazon.com for the selection my book club had selected; "Believing Christ" by Stephen E. Robinson. My overly-helpful-at-inappropriate-times husband decided that somehow finding HIS copy of "Following Christ" by the same author would help me out on the internet (yeah, I didn’t understand that train of logic either), and once I got the first book ordered, I figured, hey, why not check out something else this author had written, and so began reading it.

You know that cartoon image of a little person with a light bulb going on over their head? Yesterday, that was me.

Listen to this: "Too many of the Saints see their mortal lives in the Church as a kind of porch outside the kingdom doors. If they work hard enough in this life, they feel the doors will eventually open up and admit them at some future time. Horsefeathers!" (really, the author's wording, not mine) "Having been handed the good news of salvation, these people decline to open the envelope ...There is more to be done, but we are through the gate." (emphasis added)

I think I’ve been envisioning for way too long a big bucket; each thing I do ‘right’ (go to church, say my prayers, cut back on Diet Coke) is a little drop added to the bucket. And when I do something ‘sinful" (note: most the time we aren’t sinning , we’re just not doing quite right - but not going to church, falling asleep without praying, and drinking MORE Diet Coke), then one of those little drops is taken out of the bucket. Somehow I think I can fill the bucket on my own.

AND THAT IS WHAT THE ATONEMENT IS ALL ABOUT. THERE IS NO BUCKET.

We aren’t expected to fill anything by ourselves. That’s what Christ did already for all of us.

The part about driving back and forth from church - that’s when I got an image of big rocks. We all have a lot of difficulties in our lives - even the people who seem to be ‘perfect’ (neat reality check - read Spencer W. Kimball’s thoughts when he was called as an apostle - he felt so completely and totally unworthy). And we can’t see each other’s rocks/boulders/stones. But when we DO overcome a habit/temptation/non-gospe0-behavior, we can then stand on that rock. It becomes, instead of being a liability, a part of our new foundation. Sometimes a rock slips out below us - some people go through entire landslides where they wipe out everything good in their lives. But that’s when we use repentance, to get back up on top of the rock.

AND IT DOESN’T MATTER TO GOD HOW HIGH OUR ROCKS ARE.

So how does Jim Carry fit in? I’ve never watched "Bruce Almighty" (for one thing, Jim Carey is extremely irritating - it’s all physical buffoonery. Robin Williams did the transformation into serious drama, so it may be possible for Jim also, but in the meantime....), and I didn’t watch all of it the other night. But I did get to the part when the character Bruce is driving in the car, and literally just shouting out for God to ‘show me a sign!’ He passes a "Use Caution" sign - keeps pleading with God - a marquee sign flashing "Caution" - doesn’t make the connection - gets multiple phone calls, finally listens to the recorded message, offering him individually (by name) a job - and he meets GOD (Morgan Freeman, of course , makes a perfect God)... and STILL doesn’t get it.

I simply am one of those people who doesn’t just get spiritual promptings - I have to get spiritual SLAPS. So I can identify completely with Bruce; I simply don’t pay attention to any kind of subtly - it has to be quite obvious.

So the summary here (if you, fair reader, are still with me - and if so, WHY are you still with me?!) has made me feel extraordinarily cheerful. I have been once again reminded: God doesn’t keep a little scorecard on me, and does not compare me to everyone else. He knows what I need to do, and will continue to encourage me to do it. And all these rocks are to help me, not weigh me down.