HD Living

This afternoon I'm relaxing watching some football. I have HDTV. Most of my friends do not have HDTV. I have considered dropping HDTV and saving a few bucks on my bill each month until.... until I watch sports in HDTV.

Today I accidently began watching some of the Steelers v. Cardinals football game in standard definition. I could see the game, follow the score and enjoy the game well enough. But then I thought... 'I'm on the wrong channel.' I hit the buttons to the HDTV version of the same game and WOW. It was like someone gave me glasses for the first time. All of a sudden I was kinda bumbed that I had just wasted 10 minutes watching the game in a way I didn't have to.

You see, HDTV lets you see the pores on the skin of the players. You can see the individual blades of grass. Depth perception is amazingly improved when you watch on HDTV.

Today at church I tried to tell our people that its time for many of them to become leaders. The church (both ours and globally) need more people to rise up and take leadership. This is one of those areas that are as tough to explain as HDTV.

There are many areas in the Christian experience that leave me feeling this way. Serving, Giving, Leading, Risk-Taking, Sacrificing to name a few. These are areas I try to exhort people to experience but for many the exhortation falls on deaf ears.

Its like trying to explain HDTV. My words are inadequate. Who cares about pores and blades of grass after all... It's just a game. As long as they can see the game and tell who scores they don't need to go further right? Yeah. Until they see what I see.
Christianity often relies too heavily on words. That's why the word had to become flesh (as Ben pointed out earlier this week). I've tried to explain HDTV to my friends. It's so tough. But when my friends give it a try and come check out a game at my house... they never want to go back.

The Christian life is to be lived in HDTV.

You'll never experience the HDChristian life by avoiding risk, looking for security, avoiding true leadership, avoiding sacrifices and serving with your excess. The HDChristian life can only be experienced by reckless abandon. It's tough to explain but I never want to go back. I don't want my life to be safe anymore. I don't want to be comfortable. I don't want my Christian experience to pleasure me first. I want my Christian life to be lived in High Definition. Come check out a game at my house sometime.