Squiggly Image

"Oh, this one's going to be hard..."

Years ago, my family was playing a game of Pictionary with some friends from church, and it was my son Christopher's turn to do the drawing.  Pictionary is a guessing game that is similar to charades, where one person draws pictures to provide clues to a secret word or phrase that others must guess correctly as quickly as possible.  As an example, if the word is "chicken", the person who knows the word will try to draw a chicken, while the others blurt out what they think is being drawn until someone says "chicken!".  Sometimes the word or phrase is easy (most people know how to draw a chicken), but others can be practically impossible, and requires all the creativity and imagination that one can muster.  It appeared that my son would have to pull out some trick out of his sleeves for this one.

Tension filled the air as the timer went off.  Suddenly my son's eyes brightened as he approached the large piece of paper.  He drew what looked like a canoe.

"A boat!  No, a ship...a dinghy...an aircraft carrier!"  I started to yell mindlessly as the little vessel started to take shape.

He shook his head, and kept drawing.  Now he started to draw what appeared to be a person on the boat.

"Man on the boat...a sailor!  No, pirate?  Captain Hook?"

No luck so far, and the timer ticked on.  What could it possibly be?  Meanwhile, my son started to put some squiggly hair on the person's head, and drew a hat on top.

"George Washington!"

My son stopped drawing and fist-pumped into the air.  "Yes!  You got it!"

The air stood still for a second before everyone else in the room let out a collective gasp of shock and awe.  It seemed beyond understanding how I could correctly guess the words "George Washington" from the drawing of a person with squiggly hair and a hat standing on a boat.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out.  Chris was drawing Washington crossing the Delaware!"

It just happened that my son and I recently saw a reproduction of that famous 1851 Emanuel Leutze painting.  Chris' rendition of the man on the boat was not much closer to George Washington than Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland, but a little intuition led me to the proper conclusion.  It was, albeit an imprecise one, an image of the first President of the United States of America.

In a way, we are all somewhat imprecise images.  On the sixth day of creation, when God created man, it was written,

So God created man in his own image
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27)

Sometimes it's hard to imagine that there is much in us that reflects God in any way.  We are blemished, selfish, arrogant, shameful and without self control.  Some of us are tall, short, fat, skinny, funny looking or without fashion sense.  A well known pastor has often said that if you don't think that God has a sense of humor, just look at all the people around us.

Yet, despite all our shortcomings, each of us still bears God's communicable attributes.  God is beautiful and creative, and we enjoy the beauty of His creation.  God is righteous, and our conscience tells us what is right and wrong.  God is the source of life, and we value life and admire those who save lives.  God is community as a triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we are made not to be alone, but to live with those we love.

May we always remember to live our days as if we are created in God's image, though we may appear only as little squiggly lines when compared to our Creator.  May we also value each and every person, regardless of what we see, as someone who also bears His image in an unique way.

Texas Thumpin', A Near-Maulin' and Satan's Schemes

I have always enjoyed the drama of college football. Some games pit nationally ranked powerhouses against teams that have nary a fighting chance, and they predictably end up as blowouts where the outcomes appear certain from the outset. Other games are advertised as evenly-matched rivalries that promise to be nail-biters until their very ends. However, some of the most interesting stories in college football are the big upsets, where unranked underdogs somehow manage to dish out spectacular efforts and come up with unlikely victories. As it turned out, the UCLA vs. University of Texas game a couple of weeks ago was predicted as a mismatched blowout that turned into a resounding upset.

UCLA's football team seemed to be headed in the wrong direction from the very beginning this season, as it started with two losses, including a 35-0 thrashing by Stanford, before finally notching its first win against Houston. Texas, on the other hand, was undefeated after three games, was highly ranked, and was the home team of the contest. The entire town of Austin, Texas showed up dressed in school colors in support, expecting a one-sided slaughter. The Texas players were relaxed and confident as they finished their warm-ups and entered the field. Meanwhile, the UCLA athletes arrived knowing that they were not expected to win, and that a loss would practically spell doom for their season.

The game was not close. UCLA was the dominant team, and won handily, 34-12.

During the ensuing week, the UCLA coaching staff cautioned against a letdown as they prepared for the upcoming home game against the lowly Cougars of Washington State University, whose football program was widely regarded as being among the worst of all Division I schools in the country. Could the roles be reversed this time, and that UCLA be ripe for a major upset in the hands of the Washington State Cougars? It nearly happened, as UCLA trailed by 8 points late in the third quarter of the contest, before the team finally buckled down late in the game to secure a 42-28 win, and a collective sigh of relief.

It seems human nature for us to let down our guards immediately after we experience a great deal of blessing, victory or success. This is certainly the case in sports, and it is exceedingly uncommon to see even the most spectacular team of athletes compete for an entire season undefeated. The same is true in the spiritual realm, as Satan knows that we are weakest right after experiences of success and victory, because that is when we let our guards down. In the Bible, king David's most serious sins of adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband occurred when he was at the height of his powers, and the nation of Israel seemed secure.

An epic account of glorious victory and subsequent letdown involved the prophet Elijah, who faced off against 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah at Mount Carmel. By the power of God he gained a great victory, resulting in God being glorified and the prophets of the false gods utterly destroyed (1 Kings 18). However, shortly afterward queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah, and this mighty prophet of God, who barely finished praying for fire to strike from heaven upon the altar, became unsettled in his moment of weakness. In fact, the Bible recorded that,

“Elijah was afraid and ran for his life....” (1 Kings 19:3)

We are most vulnerable when we feel invincible, and need to be especially wary of Satan's attacks. These are times when we do not cling to God as tightly, thinking that we alone are able to fight the battle without His protection and direction. Remember, if God is with us and we cling to Him, there should be no upsets.

As for UCLA, they will be the underdogs again this Saturday.