Day 18 – No Place Like Home

Day 18 – Well, I am finally on the mend. Woohoo!!! Very excited about that! It is funny how you don't appreciate how wonderful your health is until you don't have it for a short time. Anyway, it has been a long day today.

I have been blessed with running a wonderful Drama Club at a local Christian school. I always look forward to our productions as we do two a year. We usually do some simple ones at Christmas and a very large musical for the spring. I love working with the kids and enjoy watching them grow in their abilities. It is ALWAYS difficult to cast but it usually falls into place by process of elimination. We are doing The Wizard of Oz this spring and almost NOTHING is clear as to who should have what part. Every part is down to two or three people as contenders. I always include everyone which is some 55 people this time. I want them to learn but inevitably I will have to choose just one for each part and let other people down. It is so difficult not to take it personally when you don't get a part. I can only imagine the lovely things the children have said about me along the way. Sadly, I have heard many of the comments. They love me and hate me all at the same time but ultimately, I decide their fate if they made it or didn't.

As I am regaining some strength, I am able to go further in my miles and am grateful to be getting back to full speed. I just kept thinking today that I am so grateful that God doesn't have to choose between us. He gives us ALL the opportunity to come to Him. He doesn't hand select who can and can't get a part so to speak. We might be the worst possible candidate and yet He still wants us to be with Him. What an incredible and awesome blessing we have. It makes all these earthly choices pale in comparison. My drama kids are devastated if they don't get the part they want or feel hurt if I didn't select them to do something special. Can you imagine if we had to tryout for God? We would all get cut because we wouldn't measure up. Yet, he still gives all of us the opportunity to have the part. How awesome is that!

Ephesians 1:3-14 says:

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he^[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹And he^[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

 ¹¹In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

 

I always wonder if I should accept everyone into Drama Club because it is difficult to pull off a play with that many children. However, I accept ALL of them because I want the message to be the same as that from the Father. He accepts all of us if we choose to believe. So, as we go to choose for parts, I am reminded that we are all part of the body of Christ. Just as we are all part of the body, it will take the entire Drama Club to pull off the production. From the smallest part to the largest, we all have our place in the process. I pray that I am able to convey that to them in a Biblical fashion so that they can grow closer to God during their experience.