Nothin' But Drama

Wow, I didn't realize it had been over a month since my last blog post. I don't know why I haven't written except that I just didn't have anything to say. Not to mention that we've had a few warm days lately and I've wanted to be outside and running around and pretty much ignoring my computer completely. Maybe I just needed a break from technology.

But I've been lured back by the drama of life. Some people love the drama...want to get right in the middle of it, or if no drama is to be found...they create it. But many others hope to avoid the drama completely. I love a good story, a little drama...as long as it doesn't involve me. I'd prefer as little drama as possible in my own life.

With the little bit of drama I've been around lately, I've started to wonder...maybe sometimes a little drama is necessary. Let's face it, we have a dramatic God. You can't read the Bible and not come across story after story of romance, betrayal, murder, suspense, and most of all, a God who uses drama to show His glory, His love, and His absolute commitment to His people. What's the reason a writer might add a lot of drama to a story anyway? Isn't it to make a point? Isn't it to draw attention to a pivotal moment? A crucial decision? Doesn't drama in our own lives tend to do that at times?

So when we get a little complacent, stagnant, or ineffective, I think God sometimes uses a little drama in our lives to get our attention. He uses it to make it point. Dealing with drama propels us forward. It often requires us to finally make a decision. And in my case anyway, it usually causes me to run to Him.

Drama is especially effective at revealing character. My dad often uses an illustration in his sermons where he takes a glass of water and shakes it. As you would expect, water splashes out of the glass onto the floor. Then he asks the question, "Why did water come out of the glass?" And someone always says, "Because you shook it." But then he points out that the real reason water came out of the glass...is because there was water in the glass. If there had been jellybeans in the glass, would water have come out? If there had been no water in the glass, it wouldn't matter how much you shook it...water wouldn't come out. In Luke 6:45, Jesus puts it like this:

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.

So when you get shaken, when there's drama, what comes out in you? I'm sad to say that what comes out in me isn't always pretty...but it is revealing and for that I'm grateful.