This is the last of Crammed with Heaven -- the first of seven parts to The God Show. I'll make it all readable in one place soon (the previous posts in the series begin July 13).
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If you’re a woman don’t you just love some stories and movies and books? Isn’t there a common journey they take you on? You get to know the characters, a story comes together, then there’s problems and a crisis and tension that leads to the threat of harm or breakup or death, and then there’s resolution. Maybe you never thought about why you like certain movies and stories, but if you did, isn’t this a theme?
And if you’re a guy do you love sports and battles that have a winner and loser with no middle ground? Don’t you love that macho high that comes when certain loss shockingly turns into victory? I can still remember high school and a basketball game and being part of the deafening crowd reaction filling the gym when all that had gone wrong suddenly went right. Forty years later I still know the final score -- 92-79. Why?
Romance and drama and happy endings and sports. Can you see the format, the imprint, the outline of the Gospel story of a perfect place and an enemy and a man and woman kidnapped and led astray into a life of crime by an evil mastermind, and the dramatic and selfless efforts of a hero who loves them and rescues them against insurmountable odds, sacrificing himself to pay for their crimes and set them free? And the end is happily ever after and there’s a final score that can’t be changed. It’s like we’re wired to react to that kind of thing.
See, it really is like a show. A show is something on display, intended to be seen, but like so many things God does, this show is subtle and quiet, not Hollywood-ish. It’s a general Voice speaking in the universe that all hear but that is easily missed. It’s also perhaps a show specifically broadcasting on several set channels – which is where we’re going next.
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