“Click your heels together three times and say, ‘There’s no place like home’ and you’ll be there.”
Marti would have loved to have made this magic work last Sunday when we were seven driving hours away from home, especially when she dislikes driving so much. But is magic the only way to break the spell reality holds over us? Why is the Holy Spirit a spirit if there isn’t something “magical” about Him?
Jesus expressed “magical” powers when He was here on earth. Changing water to wine, walking on water, making fish suddenly appear on the other side of the boat, and ushering Him and the disciples immediately to the other side of the lake were ways in which He demonstrated His power over the natural elements of life — things we think of as concrete realities. Jesus broke the rules. Why would we not think He could do it again in our lives today? Was He just playing around with His power when He did these things, or was He telling us something about what our lives can be like, and what He wants to do for us?
Pixie dust, magic slippers, the yellow brick road … we all love a good fairy tale and every fairy tale has some magic in it. We respond to these stories because our lives bog down in harsh realities and repetitious boredom. Our feet are firmly planted on the ground. Life is heavy and sluggish. We all need some magic in our lives – something that takes us beyond the explainable, and something that takes us beyond ourselves. Raise your hand if you think you’re experiencing all that God has for you … I thought so.
Why do we have all these fairy tales if there isn’t some truth to what they seek? If God had meant for all of life to be explainable, why would He have dealt so often in the unexplainable, and if He did, why wouldn’t He have some unexplainable things to do in our lives right now, today? What is the Holy Spirit longing to do in your life today? A lot more than we let Him I fear.
My feet are much too heavy. I stay put and find comfort in sameness. Marti is constantly quivering with anticipation of the supernatural. She is waiting to be swept up. She tried to fly once when she was a child, but broke her collarbone instead. Would she try it again? In a heartbeat, if she wasn’t tethered to me.
Here’s something I do know: the fairy tales are only make believe; the Holy Spirit is real. That’s information we should do something about.
John Fischer The Catch 
Amen to this: “…fairy tales are only make believe; the Holy Spirit is real. That’s information we should do something about.” Like “jump and the net will appear,’ or ‘put your faith out there!’
or the one that as been hitting right down to my bone & deep into my spirit, which is cauzing me to smile a whole lot lately & often: a paraphase of Rom. 4:17: …He calls those things that be not, as tho they are!
I think it has something to do w/ the prayers said 4 me this past Wednesday… which makes me entirely grateful & thankful 4 my Catch family!
And this song to comes to mind: “My God is an awesome God, He regins in Heaven & Earth…” 🙂
PS Happy Birthday Pastor John and try to rememeber you’re getting better – not older… 🙂
The Oz books (and the 1939 movie) are favorites of mine. There are lots of ” life lessons” we can gain from the most well-known Wizard of Oz story – the longing to be “home;” different folks with different problems coming together against a common enemy to journey to find the one who can fix them all; a little man with a big mask (“I am the great and powerful Oz!) and the change he undergoes once the truth is exposed; the acceptance he receives in spite of his deception; the sadness of saying goodbye to ones we love, and the ultimate joy of reunion with family. All this, and flying monkeys too! I actually have a photo autographed for me by one of the last living “Munchkins” at the time (I got it several yrs ago). We had perhaps a 20-minute conversation about his life and his views on what comes next… a treasured memory for me.
Chuck Jones (who invented and drew most of the Looney Tunes characters) is one of my heroes.
In his autobiography, Jones recalls the time when he (Jones) was introduced to a small child by the child’s mother. Something like, “Billy, this is Mr. Jones. He draws Bugs Bunny”. The child responded, “He doesn’t draw Bugs Bunny. He draws PICTURES of Bugs Bunny”.
If that ain’t magic, I don’t know what is.
And Happy Birthday John!
I have a wife like yours. I have often told her that she has the ideas and I try to make them happen.She stomped out of a Home Depot once though because I couldn’t come up with spring flowers … It was October in Seattle. Hooda thunk. God bless you John. I use lots of these writings of yours for our family devotions with our teen age kids. They really liked the one about the Rose. Thanks, Greg
I was teaching Sunday School a few weeks ago and the lesson was on Jesus walking on the water. We started by playing “Sink or Float” putting a bunch of things in a dishpan of water to see which would stay on top of the water. Then I asked the kids what would happen if I walked off the edge of the swimming pool (our church has one, visible from the Sunday School room, even….) They all said, “You would sink.” Then I told them our story was about Someone who walked on water. I asked who they thought it might be. One little girl said, “JESUS.” So I asked how He did that, and she said, “Because He’s MAGIC.” So to a little child miracles = MAGIC, and I guess I do believe in Magic.
If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep seeing what we have always seen. If we step outside that box then we will begin to see how God works the ‘humanly impossible’. I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:27)
I think God has put the need, the desire for the unusual, the fantastic, the unbelievable, yes the ‘magic’ in each of our hearts. He did that because He is capable of it and wants us to ask Him for it. We after all have God’s cell phone number….you may text or call Him. “Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.” (Jeremiah 33:3).
KDL, I too teach sunday school, thanks for the lesson, I will put that in my repertoire. I once gave the kids at sunday school a Christmas present. It was a huge box, decorated with Christmas wrapping, a phone rang inside it. When I ripped open the package and answered it, it was God, and He asked me to give the kids His cell phone number. Inside the box the Jeremiah 33:3 verse was on a piece of paper with a beautiful ribbon attached to it. Each child got one for Christmas.
My Catch brother Peter, wanted to tell you, i enjoyed reading your post – it blessed me… 🙂