A Touch of Greatness

Here's the thing.

There's this guy.  

He grew up in my little home place and now he's known everywhere.  And I see other people from my city posting pictures on facebook of posters of him in their towns where they live now, or somewhere far away that they're visiting.  And we're all super proud of him and we're all cheering him on.  And that's really good!  I am too.  Most definitely.

We get all excited because we feel the touch of greatness.  In some little way we saw it happen and claim a little of it for ourselves.  We have the boast of knowing before other people knew and the seeing and hearing before the rest of the world.  And now we want them to know that we knew him before!  He's our news!!!  More than that, he's our friend.  Maybe he really was.  Or maybe we just talked to him once or passed him in the hall or sat near him in history class.  Some of us never met him because he was older or younger than us and we walked in different circles, but we're just as proud because he's one of us.  From our place!

We can hold our heads up a little higher, our faces shine and we feel a little bit famous ourselves because we know, or knew, or talked to, or saw, or came from the same place as this guy.  We start to identify ourselves more with him.  We start to follow his movies and interviews and look at his pictures.  We "like" everything that has to do with him, and in our hearts, maybe we love those things too.

Now you may not know that particular guy.  Your person could be a gal.  Or a different guy.  Maybe a whole group.  Or no one...that's okay.  But maybe there's someone from your place who makes you feel important.  Someone you've latched onto and identified with.  Someone about whom you can say, "I knew him.  I was there."

And it's special.  It really is.  But it's a bit of a danger zone.  It's a fine line to walk.  Where do I place my value?  My importance?  My identity?  Is some of it in that guy and his success and the boast I have in him?  Even a little bit?  Has his fame crept into an idolatrous crevice of my heart?

What if I boasted just as much, or even more, about this Jesus guy that I know?  Because I met him way before I met the other guy!  He's the one who proved himself as God when I was just a little girl praying for a frog.  He's the one who, when I picked up my Bible as a young teen, responded by loving me.  And I felt it and knew it.  He's the one who provided for the payment of my car in Romania at the very last minute from some beautiful Germans who also knew him.  He's the one who guided my hands when the semi-truck was headed straight for me and told me he had other plans for me than to die that day.  He's the one who lead me to my husband.  He's the one I could come to with any emotion when my baby was so sick.  He's the one who has pulled me out of my own drowning thoughts and sadnesses.  He's the one I lean on each and every day.

I didn't exactly go to school with him.  I mean, I didn't see him with my eyes anyway.  Not in the same way I saw the guy.  Because, the guy is just a guy.  A human guy.  But, this Jesus guy...he's God.  Really God.  But he became a guy so I could know and understand him better.  It's in the history books and in the Bible.  

And he's famous.  Really famous!  I've seen churches built and people meeting so that they can know him better.  I've seen people pray, sing, and dance to Jesus in a multitude of languages.  And they're doing it because they know him.  More than that-He knows them and they know it!  

I don't see pictures plastered everywhere of him, but I see this created place, this world.  Blades of grass, spider webs, the human body.  So intricately planned.  They speak of him.

And so I shout it out!  I know him!!  I know Jesus!  I've known him for as long as I can remember!  I haven't always done a good job of it, but I really want to be just like him!  He's the one I want to know more!  He's the one I want to be known for!  He came to my place so I could know him.  He's from my place...and every place!  He is my news!!!  More than that, he's my friend.  I am following him!  I am "liking" him!  I am loving him!  And he has my whole heart.

Skeptical?  Pick up a Bible.  Read about Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.  He's famous.  Bibles are everywhere.  It isn't called the "Good News" for nothing.  It really is Good News.  

I might have rubbed shoulders with a famous guy in high school-a fact which makes me sometimes giddy-but this Jesus....this Jesus...Because of knowing this Jesus I am changed.  I can hold my head high and smile with the shine of joy, even in the midst of sadness.  I can remember when, and know now, and think of the future and it gives me strength when I should be weak.  He is really with me every day, not just his picture, because he is God, not merely a guy.  I identify with him, and he with me, and I feel the freedom of not carrying around guilt like I used to.  I've known him, and he knows me...and I feel important.  Because of Jesus, I know God.  I have the confidence that my sins are forgiven and the knowledge of a promised eternity in heaven. And that is truly Great.