Island of Misfit Toys

Last week on a very long flight, I had a really chatty seatmate. My husband was seated 20 rows ahead of me and I was all the way in the back of the plane… one row in front of the bathroom. Bob sat down beside me. Bob was wearing a reflective vest, cowboy hat and a heavy beard. By appearance alone, you could tell that Bob was quite a character. He maximized the space next to me and could not figure out how to fasten his seatbelt. I helped him and asked if this was his first flight. Sometimes all it takes is one simple question in order to prompt the telling of a lifetime of stories. It was not his first flight, but it was his first in 40 years. Bob had spent the last 40 years in prison for killing someone. He met his 5^th wife in prison and proudly showed me her picture and talked about her bra size. He actually thought I would like to know all of his wives bra sizes… I did not and I responded by pulling my jacket tighter around my own chest. Bob was flying out west to drive a truck back to the east coast. He filled the next hour with prison stories and trucking fantasies. My dismissive, southern, soft-spoken responses only stimulated more stories from Bob. I was failing miserably in politely shutting him up, so I got out my 8lb Bible and journal in order to clue him in that I was done listening. I figured I had treated him like Jesus long enough. In my clever mind, I was sure that bringing out the Bible was obvious, although blatantly rude. My attempt to help Bob put a sock in it backfired. Bob saw my Bible and got fired up. He met Jesus in prison and wanted to tell me all about it. I was humble enough to giggle inside over the blunder of my Bible stunt. I could fill up pages of Bob stories, but there is one among the dozens I listened to that day that has stuck with me all week.

Bob had some crazy theology. In the middle of his testimony, I sneezed. Bob told me that I was allowing Satan to have control in my life. He didn’t believe that Jesus had ever been sick and that we are called to be perfect just as Jesus is perfect. (Matthew 5:48). Bob believes that Christians have the power over sickness and that we are called to perfection in our health. He suggested that my sneezing is sin. Bob said that he had not been sick one day since becoming a Christian. Bob also had not been rained on since his conversion and told me stories of riding his Harley on dry roads as it rained on every side of him. I told Bob that I could not even pretend to agree with any of his radical thoughts. I was able to tell him of Jesus’s suffering and his compassionate empathy as He identifies with all of our pain. I showed him passages on the special privilege of suffering and how it shapes us and how one day we will be free from suffering. One day we will be perfect, but that day is not today.

I cannot wait until I see Jesus face to face and to be holy like He is.

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)

We are living in an in-between time. Jesus conquered sin and death once and for all when He died on the cross. All my past, present, and future sins have been paid for. I am counted as righteous, because my life is hidden in Christ, but this side of heaven, I am going to sneeze and I am going to sin. We are living in a place akin to the island of misfit toys. Everyone here has missing buttons and broken parts. We don’t work perfectly and we are not what we are intended to be, but we are not going to remain here forever. Today, we are strangers and aliens. We instinctively know that there must be something better. Our better home has been prepared and it is promised; when we get there, we will be as perfect as it is, and we will fit in beautifully. We won’t sneeze or suffer or have to trudge through the rain. All our parts will work beautifully and we will love and be loved perfectly.

We are cherished today as we bump along in our “missfitness”, but our tomorrows will be better.

Today, we are called to encourage our fellow misfits. Bob and I are misfits and you are too and we are so deeply loved. Cling to the love of our perfect savior and His promised hope for tomorrow until we get off this island of misfit toys. XO

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
(Great is Thy Faithfulness)

 

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:3 (NIV)