Heart of a Champion, Brain of a Rock

God doesn't call the qualified to do His best work. He qualifies the called. 

(a saying at my church)

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(picture borrowed from artistic.anomaly.wordpress.com)

When it comes to some ideas, I am not the brightest crayon in the box. I'll have an idea or a "fact" so deeply ingrained in me, it will take me FOREVER to see it any other way. For example, when I was a kid, I read the color magenta on the crayon label as "magneta" and for most of my childhood--far longer than I care to admit--in my mind, the color was called magneta. It wasn't until I started to correct someone on the proper pronunciation that I had a shocking revelation--I had been saying it wrong for years!

Another (more recent) example occurred a few weeks ago before my younger sister's birthday.When I asked how old she was going to be this year, she told me she would be 27. I argued with her that that wasn't right--we are two and a half years apart, and I am 28, so that means that she would be turning 26. I have logic on my side!

This debate went on for an unreasonable amount of time until, in a baffling turn of events, my sister used the power of math to show me that not only was she turning 27, I would be hitting my 30th birthday this year. WHAT?!?! Where did that year go?!?!?

The point is, sometimes it takes more than a gentle nudging to change an idea I have in my mind. Sometimes it takes a baseball bat. Or a steamroller. Or a freight train. And then finally:

Fortunately, God knows this, and is happy to accommodate. When there is something that He would like me to learn, it shows up anywhere and everywhere until the lightbulb flicks on.

One of my favorite things about the Bible is the dynamic between Jesus and the apostles. Jesus is just hanging out, trying to get his point across to the apostles so they can carry on his work, and they pretty much always miss the point completely the first (and sometimes second) time around.

The best example of this is in Matthew 16. Jesus had just finished telling off some Pharisees and Sadducees--they wanted him to perform a couple of miracles to prove his authority, but he's the Son of God, for crying out loud, not a magician--and now he and the twelve are in a boat heading to their next destination. 

"On their way to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring along bread. In the meantime, Jesus said to them, 'Keep a sharp eye out for Pharisee-Saducee yeast.'
Thinking he was scolding them for forgetting bread, they discussed in whispers what to do. Jesus knew what they were doing and said, 'Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt believers! Haven't you caught on yet? Don't you remember the five loaves of bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you picked up? Or the seven loaves that fed four thousand, and how many baskets of leftovers you collected? Haven't you realized yet that bread isn't the problem? The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Saducee yeast.' 
Then they got it: that he wasn't concerned about eating, but teaching--the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching." --Matthew 16:5-12 (msg)

I love this story. It gives me hope to know that even the apostles--the ones that Jesus chose--aren't always so quick on the uptake. If they can be great through God, then so can I!