Seeking Him

My Road to Stardom

You know those days...those days that you find yourself at 10:00 in the morning, in the guest room, in bed with a handsome stranger, surrounded by a film crew of 5 led by the church organist?

Or is that just me?

No, that wasn't one of those wierd dreams that we all have (or is THAT just me?), but an actual, real-life description of yesterday.  I spent yesterday hosting a video shoot at my house.  My buddy Kent, who happens to be our multi-talented church organist, was clearly wowed by the delivery of my one line in Godspell :-) and consequently asked me to be one of the actors in a promo video that he was directing and producing for his "real" work with the federal court system.  Either that or he wanted to use our house as the setting.  Either way, I got to play actress for the day with a real live handsome actor.  He played my husband in the video and was almost as handsome as my actual husband.  Almost....but not quite :-)

So, these men show up at my house at 8:15 a.m. and I am still in hot rollers...yes, I do require hot rollers to pull of my big ole' Texas hair-do.  So I let them in and leave to get rid of one dog and one daughter.  Since Kent was there, I let first-born stay asleep in her room.  (By the way, I did take out the hot rollers before I left; probably too soon...they said they would be there at 8:30!)  After dropping off dog and daughter, I return to find 6 men in my kitchen, waiting for me, one of them in pajamas.  They lead me up to my guest room where they have blacked out the windows and set up bright lights and huge cameras.  I am then invited to get into bed, fully clothed of course, with handsome actor man in the pajamas.  With great acting skill, I then proceed to play "sleeping wife" while he fumbles with alarm clock and expresses great frustration over the early hour and his anticipated commute in horrible traffic.  I am pretty sure that I was brilliant in this scene and really looked asleep.

Handsome actor man then did some other scene that didn't include me but did involve my coffee pot.  I'm sure you, my loyal readers, have no interest in that.  We then proceeded on to my big scene where I had actual lines.  In this scene, we are having a leisurely breakfast together, thanks to some fabulous new teleconferencing capabilities that allows my hard-working husband to perform his work duties at home as opposed to fighting traffic.  We discuss dry-cleaning, the kids, our lunch plans and what to do with his dirty breakfast dishes.  Then handsome actor man lovingly kisses me on the cheek and heads into the office in the room next door.  Again, after 25ish takes and several camera angles, I am pretty sure that I was brilliant and offers for more acting gigs will come pouring in as soon as this video hits YouTube.  We'll have to see how my hair looked however, as I am pretty sure that I had to take out my rollers too soon. 

I am probably breaking all sorts of actor's union guidelines, but here is handsome actor man's headshot.

Pretty cute, huh?  According to his resume, you can see him as a Secret Service dude in "Airforce One" as well as some other movies that I have actually seen.  All joking aside, he and all of the crew were super nice guys and we had a lot of fun playing "make-believe."  It probably really is a pretty fun way to make a living and I appreciate Kent including me for the day.

If you see us on YouTube together, I promise that I was fully clothed in the "bedroom" scene and I only enjoyed the kiss the first 6 or 7 times.  Hee hee!

Anyway

I was driving in the car today, listening to my Ipod and this Nichole Nordeman song came on.  Although I have heard it many times before, it struck me today how much it connected with the entry I posted yesterday (especially the part I put in bold.)  It is called "Anyway:"

Bless the day
This restoration is complete
Dirty dusty something must be underneath
So I scrape and I scuff
Though it's never quite enough
I'm starting to see me finally

A gallery of paintings new and paintings old
I guess it's no surprise that I'm no Michaelangelo
Every layer of mine hides a lovely design
It might take a little patience
It might take a little time

But you called me Beautiful
When you saw my shame
And you placed me on the wall
Anyway

You who have begun this work will someday see
A portrait of the holiness you meant for me
So I polish and shine
til it's easier to find even an outline of mine

But you called me Beautiful
When you saw my shame
And you placed me on the wall
Anyway
Anyway
And you placed me on the wall
Anyway

A Work in Progress

It's been almost a month since I have posted...definitely the longest I have ever gone without writing in the almost 2 years (!!!) that I have been blogging.  No real reason for my absence, or at least not one reason.  Busy, nothing to say, too much to say....my life is full and blessed.  God is good.  Sometimes life is hard....not hard for me lately, but for people that I love.  Yet, God just keeps being good.  That's it, really...God's amazing goodness.  It is so constant and consistent and unfailing.

The scripture verse I keep thinking of lately is Philippians 1:6 (NIV): "...He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  The Message version says "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears."  ...carry it on to completion...keep at it....God is not a quitter.  What He has begun, He WILL complete.  A flourishing finish.  We can count on it.

I have seen so many evidences of that truth lately.  On the left is a picture of my beautiful peonies in April:

And on the right, here they are in May:

The beauty that I tried to capture in a vase in May, God could see in that scratchy looking dirt in April.  God, who is not limited by human sight, saw the fullness of His creation within those tiny, red buds barely sticking their heads through the chilly April soil.  There was never any question that those small shoots would produce masses of glorious flowers that filled my kitchen for several weeks.  It was their destiny.

Even more beautiful than my peonies was my precious first-born sharing her Statement of Faith with the congregation on Confirmation Sunday a few weeks ago.  The good work that God has begun in her, He is faithfully fulfilling.  Through His grace, He has made her His own and He will carry that on to completion...a flourishing finish.  It is her destiny in Him.  Just this past weekend, she and God handled a difficult situation with so much maturity, grace and wisdom that I could only sit back and applaud His goodness....His faithfulness...His uncompromising generosity.  The work He is doing in her life, in the lives of both of my girls, is the most beautiful thing that I have ever witnessed.  He, of course, saw the fulfillment of His plan for their lives when they were still in my womb. He has begun a good work and He WILL carry it on to completion.  He sees the fullness of their beauty, just like my peonies, when He looks at them now...just beginning their journey with Him.

If I believe that verse for my girls, then it stands to reason that is is true for me as well.  And for my friend who is going through a time of heartache.  And for my husband who is dealing with the stress of a new job.  God has begun a good work and He will see it through to a "flourishing finish"...transforming each of us to be more like Jesus.  It is our destiny in Him.  Whatever it is, it is part of the process of becoming that which He intended for us all along.  The way He already sees us.  More beautiful, more complex, more intricate than the most glorious flower in my garden.