Ellie And The Evil Twins

"Born again lazy is common among

Christians today. They fill the seats of
both megachurches and small-town
fellowships. There's inaction, idle worship,
and a tendency to stay exclusive as a
fellowship and not go beyond the parking
lot. As a church, we have become Born Again Lazy. Lazy with outreach, lazy with
money, lazy with our families, lazy with prayer, lazy with fasting, lazy with studying God's Word, lay with Him."
- Craig Gross


For almost two weeks now, an elderly woman has walked the shores of Siesta Key and created burning questions inside of me. Most other people parading in front of my beach office are forgettable and only stick around for a day or so. But this elderly lady (whom I've named Ellie because you can only say "elderly woman" so many times in a blog) has taken early morning walks every day. She must be a local. Sometimes she walks with professionally manufactured walking sticks. Some days she goes solo. Some days her skinny left leg is wrapped, and then not. There are certain days that seem to go better for her as she briskly walks the beach. On other days, she stops every 50 yards or so and takes a long scan forward of the territory she has yet to conquer. Everyday Ellie is alone. Is she a widow? Does she have kids? Who is this woman? What's her story? Does she live here? I wonder if Ellie knows Jesus.

Meanwhile... Michael met a couple seven-year-old girls at the pool yesterday. I could tell by the way he was dancing with his water noodle, talking and laughing at accelerated volumes, and strutting his sun-burnt feathers like a male peacock ... that I had lost my beach bum son to summer love. Upon my first attempt at inquisition, Michael downplayed his new acquaintances with great animation. He even labeled the identical button-nosed bikini babes as "the evil twin girls." I'm fairly certain this dramatic disdain was to conjure up a "That's my boy," from his father. I absolutely gave him the thumbs up, but I so know my son's heart and motivations. He telegraphs them never-so subtly. There seems to be some kind of weird-but-natural fear factor going on with dad that is currently keeping Michael from a full-out admission of his boyish crushes. Weird... but I'll milk it for as long as I can.

However, last night as Michael was sacked out on the couch from too much sun, ocean, and women, I awakened him abruptly with, "Michael, the evil twin girls are here!" Mind you, I was only trying to get Michael to get up and use the bathroom before climbing into bed. On most nights Michael has prematurely fallen asleep, cajoling him to get ready for bed is a slow, comical, should-have-filmed-that-to-win-$10,000 ordeal.

With a scant whisper announcing the evil twin girls we're in the building, Michael shot up like it was the last day of a long year of school. Wow. That boy was motivated. I've never seen him move faster.

Early this morning, Michael was up and peering somewhat mysteriously out our front door. By noon, we all knew the girls were from Snellville, Georgia, had their family history memorized... and Sherry was engaged with a poolside chat with the twins mom. Michael has now dropped "the evil twins" distinction from his vocabulary. Seems like the more he dives in and gets to know these bathing beauties, the less evil they really are. My son... the chick magnet!

Today I was able to start my fourth study break book. Craig Gross and J.R. Mahon are edgy, irreverent, and funny prophets as they have penned "Starving Jesus." It's a simple call to missional action. It's a clarion message to stop ignoring God's calling for His people to do something.

If Jesus really has come incarnationally to dive into our world, and still lives incarnationally in, through, and with us --- then we must do something. Why don't we? Why so often do we hear God whisper and then choose to ignore? Gross believes we have "worked ourselves into comfortable lifestyles that rarely encompass others and their needs."

Mahon convicts with these words: "When you have a relationship with Christ, he calls you to action. When heard and ignored, the resulting action will always result in failure. Always. How do you know you are ignoring God? If you're asking the question, chances are you are."

I've got two more morning chances at Jesus living through me and talking with Ellie. I think I'm supposed to talk with her. I'm hoping that sometime during the next two sunrises, I'll see Ellie and have the chance to talk with her.

For me, the more I think about how Jesus came and embraced this life... and the more I realize how he still wants to live vibrantly like this through me and TO others... the more inquisitive I become about others. The more Jesus incarnates himself through me, the more curious I am about others lives, needs, hurts, and salvation.

I think growing old and comfortable creates plenty of excuses for not engaging. But shouldn't my aging actually increase the life of Christ that should come through me? The older I get, the younger-like-Michael I should become, and the more Jesus comes through.

What if Ellie is an evil twin? No rationalized fear there. Do I call her "potentially evil" because there is a weird fear factor going on inside me that keeps me from a full admission of my inadequacies? Probably. God knows my heart and motivations, and I so need Him to hold me accountable for what He sees (Prov. 16:2).

In the past, when I have dove into the life, hurts, and needs of someone... it has sprung and flung me back into really living. It has motivated me. It has moved my spiritual journey faster and deeper. Interestingly, I've found the more I move outside the church walls and into someone's life to really get to know them, the less "evil" they really are. This is also the exact place where Jesus becomes brilliantly incarnate again and again. That's really, really cool.

I hope I see Ellie on the beach tomorrow morning. Maybe I should take Michael. After all, he IS a chick magnet.