Feb 14, 2006

love links

So I'm a night owl. I admit it and freely join the club of others (like my friend Derek) who think the brain works better when all is quiet on the western front.

In any event, there isn't much on TV at night unless you're fond of informercials, reruns of last week's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, and yet another helping of whatever movie TBS is overpromoting and playing for the 56th time this week. Given the choice, I stick with Conan.

Recently I was amazed by a late-night commercial I saw featuring Evangeline Lilly, one of the breakout stars from the ABC show "Lost." It was a commercial for "Livelinks," one of those phone services for singles (most likely, single guys with credit cards) who want to "connect live" with someone on the other end. In this case, you're led to believe that this now famous woman (because they're still running the ads) is waiting to chat with you... which I think has to crush the illusion (if it ever existed) that these are the actual people you speak with.

Hypothetical caller: Um... is this the gal from Lost?

Lost girl: Yep.

Hypothetical caller: Yeah, so are you like answering ths on the island?

Lost girl: Yep.

Hypothetical caller: Right. So what's the deal with that whole black smoke in the jungle thing?

Lost girl: Beats me. It's just a job.

This isn't meant to slam this actress, for I don't know her and am just assuming this was a resume building gig. I've even read that the one thing she would take with her if stranded on an island was her Bible. In fact, she at one time studied to become a missionary and went on a three week Christian Missionary trip to the Philippines. So maybe there is some real content to her.

Then again... I don't know her. Dominic Monaghan - her boyfriend and Lost co-star - said, "She's a Christian, but she's a pottymouth." So I don't know her, but he does... and that's an interesting quote of his.

Which kind of is my point... a lot of things in life promise us one thing with a smile and yet beneath the surface it's nothing more than an empty offer. Often we transfer this kind of learned skepticism towards God - the One who is more real than anything we can see with our eyes.

I don't know if anyone really thinks Evangeline Lilly is waiting for a phone call, but someone might actually buy it. You could even spend a lot of useless energy speculating whether or not she is a Christian, but that will get you nowhere. The bottom line is that EVERYONE needs Jesus Christ - including you and me.

On this Valentine's Day, why not take some time to feel the full embrace of love He is let Him love you?

Thankfully... He IS waiting to talk to us right now and "connect live."

In fact, He'll even pick up the cost.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)

5 comments:

Out Of Jersey said...

That's interesting. I saw the commercials for that sight. Not that one particularly, but I now what you are talking about. You can't always tell a persons heart by what you see on TV.

If it weren't for the fact I have a day job I'd work at night.

Cindy Lee Woods said...

What a powerful picture of Christ on the cross. Definately the true meaning of love.

Thurman8er said...

To me, the hardest part of being a "celebrity Christian" would be how amplified all of my flaws would be.

We analyze every word coming out of Bono's mouth. Our ears perk up when we hear that Evangeline Lilly is a "pottymouth." I can't help but wonder what people would focus on if I was famous. I certainly have more than my fair share of faults.

tonymyles said...

Thurman8er - I completely agree. I know I've singled out Bono and Evangeline with a couple of posts, but hopefully you'll see the spirit on my end is not to criticize but to evaluate. Jesus did warn us against judging others, however he did instruct us to evaluate the fruit from a tree.

Maybe this is my student ministry experience kicking in here, but a lot of people look to these stars as examples. When they say, "I'm a Christian" it means a lot of things to a lot of people... not to mention Jesus Christ. That's the same pressure I put on myself in order to be sure that when someone bumps into me at Blockbuster video I exercise the same discretion as I do when deciding something inside a church building.

We all have our faults... and those with Jesus have grace and redemption of those faults. However, even walking with Jesus inspires a limp (like Jacob had)... hopefully we can all limp forward towards heaven with Christ bearing our weight.

Bstermyster said...

My perspective on this is, a lot of the time "Christians" who come out of the closet as such in hollywood are, shall we say blacklisted, and they are fearful of saying that they are CHRISTIANS because they want to still be in movies, but I kind of have a hard time with that explanation because fame can't be more important then our relationship with Christ. Well, I guess it can be, but we shouldn't let it. I think I am rambling, and I am not agreeing or disagreeing just throwing another thought in the mix.