Just in case you were wondering, Elvis is alive and well. This was confirmed for me by a nice stranger in the frozen food section of Walmart this week. While trying to figure out if we wanted phosphates in our frozen turkey or not, I was enthusiastically encouraged to come look at a video of a much older, white-haired Elvis Presley singing, "How Great Thou Art." It's him," the kind stranger insisted. "This proves that Elvis is alive." Fortunately, another gentleman had also been captured to watch the video with me. This was not, thankfully, his first rodeo with kind strangers, sporting Elvis video. With all of the non-anxious presence of a stone, he quietly responded, "Could be. Could be." All I could manage was, "Well, thank you," and quickly return to my dilemma with turkeys.
Yet as I did, I began to wonder if it really could be Elvis. I mean was DNA testing performed? Do we in fact know who is really buried in Elvis Pressley's grave? He sure sounded like Elvis and even with white hair, there was a striking resemblance "Could be. Could be." Now I should probably stop here and say, "I don't believe Elvis Pressley is still alive." No matter how much I wish it weren't so, I'm afraid you won't convince me that this dear man is still out and about, But the passion and conviction of my Walmart witness were so compelling, that it caused me to stop and wonder.
I've come across other folks whose witness is just as passionate. It's a witness, I confess, that often bothers and confuses me. What they're professing to be true is so far removed from what I believe it's hard to know where to begin a conversation. And yet, their conviction of how they believe things are is so certain that it can cause me to question my own beliefs. I usually come back to my way of understanding things, but not without being caught by the veracity of their witness. I may not agree with what they believe or understand their conclusions, but their passion is real. Their conviction is dynamic. I'm not thinking of those whose words seek only to offend, disrupt, and cause further breach, and harm, but rather of those who are not afraid to profess what they believe by engaging candidly with others. Their intent is not to harm but to share what they believe to be true. Their desire is for me to know their truth as the "best truth." I really think, "they think", it's an act of care. Can it be off-putting and disturbing? Can it leave me looking for words I don't have? Does it make me wish I had stayed home? Yes. But their passion is something. It's something I wish I had.
For instance, I've never stopped someone in Walmart to share my belief that Jesus is alive and well. I can't recall ever approaching a stranger and saying, "Let me show you a video of how Jesus is living in the hearts and hands of people everywhere by being His presence in the world." I've never stood on a street corner shouting, "Love your neighbor as yourself," paid for a billboard quoting Anne Frank's, "No one has ever become poor by giving," or gone to an open commissioners meeting so that I might hold up a sign with the words, "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." I've done none of these things, even though I have really strong beliefs about all of them. I play my convictions pretty "close to my vest," and keep my passion under wraps. Which is pretty sad, because with a little more passion and conviction, I could stir up some things.
If I had enough passion to openly share what I believe, I could be off-putting. If I had enough conviction to lead you to believe that my truth is the "best truth," I could be disturbing. If I had enough certainty in what I believe to cause you to look for words you don't have and make you wish you'd stayed home, I could start sidling up to strangers in Walmart and let them know that Jesus is alive and well, out and about, loving all of us with passion and all of us without. I could but I probably won't. Instead, I'll continue to give thanks for all those whose passion is different from my own, who unsettle me, calling me to think and grow, and who help me not become complacent in what I believe and feel. I'll share the love of Jesus the best way I know how. And...I'll strive to be open to that which seems impossible...especially if it comes from kind strangers who just want to share an act of care, no matter how far-fetched it may be. And who knows, what I think impossible, "Could be. Could be" possible.
May our deepest passions be grounded in Christ's unending love. May our sincerest convictions be centered in His abiding presence. May it be so.
Blessings Friends, Leslee
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