This morning I went to Women's Bible Study at a local church. We still haven't settled on a church home, but I knew that I needed the regular fellowship and accountability of a weekly meeting, so the local AG pastor's wife graciously invited me to their study - even though she knows it's possible we may not end up attending their church. Last week the leader of the study, who has been a family friend for many years introduced me to the group. I guess she did it in a way that made me sound like I was somebody. At least that's what the young woman I sat next to in study today told me. One of the take-away's from today's lesson was the power of story and how your personal story with Jesus should be irrefutable evidence of His power in your life and in the world. The young woman turned to me during the table talk time and said, "I want to hear your story - you seem like a Very Important Person."
As I fumbled for what to say next, the pastor's wife saved me by asking her to tell her story of a terrible car accident she was in as a teenager.
As the story unfolded - a shy and insecure teenager; invited to spend the night with a friend; in a hurry to get home to find something clean to wear in her mess of a bedroom; lost control of her car and ended up down an embankment on a blind curve where no one could see her; thrown from the car and pinned underneath; waiting to die; two 13 year old boys unexplainably took the long way home; started throwing rocks at an "old car" down in the ravine; heard her call for help; rescued; miraculously minimal injuries; bargained with God; lost her way; recommitted her life to God. The last thing she said, "When I rededicated my life to God and really decided to follow Him, I felt Him tell me that He saw me there, under that car in that ravine waiting to die. I felt like a tiny dot on this big earth, but He saw me."
Doesn't that just about sum it up? Here I was, truly feeling every bit the tiny dot, a new person in a new town in a new church, but somehow she thought I was a VIP! Don't we all feel it - that insignificance? We put on the bravado - spin our web of influence - smile - act like we have it all together, when the truth is we feel about as big and important as a speck of dust.
The real truth is that we are - all of us Very Important Persons. So important in fact that the God of the universe came down to be with us, to love us, to lay down the life of His Son Jesus for us. We bear the image - the imago dei - of our Creator. We are the most important people to Him. He cares about every heartache, joy, insecurity, sorrow, problem, and challenge we face.
I want to sing like the Psalmist, "Oh Lord! How majestic is Your name!"
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
Psalm 8:3-5
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