Jesus Crazy

My daughter, Grace, wore her life jacket yesterday during a neighborhood water gun fight.  I am not exactly sure why she needed it.  We were not swimming, and besides, she has known how to swim for a few years.  She has only ever worn her life jacket on boats, but that did not stop the hunt through the garage yesterday afternoon for her blue life jacket.  She was super pleased when we found it...took off her shirt, put it on and went back to the all out water war that my husband had begun from our driveway.  Who am I to question a five year old's water gun attire?  She wasn't worried what anyone else thought.  Why should I care?  It was one of those great parenting moments where you are looking at part of your speech for her rehearsal dinner...my girl who wears life jackets in water gun fights.

This picture has been with me all night, and this morning.  It is rolling around in my head, and I am feeling God asking me a simple crazy question:  How often are you wearing a life jacket to a water gun fight?  How often are you running around like crazy in search of something that will neither help you survive or keep you safe?  How often have I let the day to day of this world become so enormous that I am reaching for something to shield me from what is, in essence, a small trickle of water that might get me wet, but won't hurt at all.  How often am I hiding behind a life jacket instead of leaning into the abundant life Christ called me to all because it might seem a little crazy to have a water gun fight on a Monday, and some people are just standing and staring at what has become a drenched mess full of hoses and Super Soakers?  What am I missing out on?

About a year into my Jesus journey, I was worshipping one Sunday.  Standing when the worship leader asked the congregation to stand.  Sitting when the worship leader told everyone to sit.  At that time our church was not filled with "spontaneous standers".  Our church was not filled with amens or applause...it was quietly, calmly reverent.  I felt a nudge in my soul as a beautiful song played to stand.  As I sat holding the pew, the nudge became a shove and I was standing, uncertain, unsure.  It was overwhelming how free I felt just standing because God told me to worship Him from my feet.  I had begun to unbuckle my life jacket.  This standing would not be the last of my worship witness.  The Sunday He asked me to raise my hands during a song and praise Him with empty, open hands, tears streaming down my face I thought surely I would die.  I didn't and the life jacket began to slip off my shoulders.

About a year ago, God sent me falling headlong over the edge.  He asked me one day to give Him a praise offering anytime I felt or saw Him at work.  I was to clap and praise Him...this is really hard to make blend with normal.  The life jacket was on the seat next to me...off...it was over.  There was no turning back.  I was Jesus Crazy.

Jesus Crazy is the good stuff.  The little "Yes"s that lead to bigger "Yes"s that lead to every "Yes" He calls you to at every moment.  These are the moments that we are vulnerable to the world's stares or the rebuke of other Christians.  These are the moments others might not understand.  Big Yes or little yes.  These are the moments that make us the weirdos.  These are the moments where our heart is on display for all to see...we have abandoned the safety of the water gun fight and we are swimming for deeper waters.  I wonder how we look in these moments to Jesus.  I wonder when our life jackets are no where to be found, when we have even quit looking for them, how He sees us.

God gives us a brave and beautiful picture of Jesus Crazy in Mark 14:1-9.  Jesus is eating dinner with friends.  A woman walks in with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume.  She breaks the jar and pours it over Jesus' head, anointing Him and showing her absolute devotion to Him.  Those around rebuke her harshly, and question why she wasted the perfume.  What a sight I am certain it was to see.  A dinner party.  A woman.  Expensive perfume.  Poured on Jesus' head. 

Where was her life jacket?

I have sat with this story for a week or so, putting myself in the woman's shoes.  Was she caught off guard by the prompting of God for her to anoint Jesus?  Was she fighting the urge to just hand Him the perfume?  Was she crying?  Was she hoping she heard God wrong?  Or had she been living long enough without her life jacket that she could have cared less what a dinner party thought of her, and kept her eyes locked on her Savior who deserved to be anointed?  I don't know...

If it were me, I wonder if the alabaster jar would be at the bottom of my purse as the minutes passed and the dinner party came to a close and the moment was gone...I wonder how many girls have alabaster jars tucked inside their life jackets.

This is the hard part of following Jesus.  He asks us for alabaster jars, applause, living on the edge, forgetting status, forgetting to save face.  He asks us to walk away from water gun fights and jump out of our boat, throw off our life jacket and walk to Him on the waves as those on the shore laugh at us because we believe.  There is no hiding inside Jesus Crazy.  We are throwing rocks at giants and building arks with no rain in sight.  I guess we are in good company.

Let me encourage you to do something crazy for Jesus.  If He is calling you to stand one Sunday then stand.  If He is calling you to change your major then change.  If He is calling you to bring a casserole to a neighbor then walk next door.  If He is calling you to move to Africa get going.  If He is calling you to adopt make room.  If He is calling you to dinner parties with alabaster jars everywhere get ready because Jesus has work for you.

Whatever it is, say Yes.  Unbuckle that life jacket.  Break the alabaster jar, and He will applaud.  He will smile.  And He is all that matters.