In Character / Out of Character

My youngest granddaughter belongs to a all-girl local drama group. We attended their year end production held in the University Theatre.

The play called for the girls to portray the lives of men and women in an old folks home!

I'm sorry the pictures I have are not the best... we were not allowed flash photography and the lighting and distance did not allow for award winning photos!

But I'll share a few pics anyway.


The group of girls.

My granddaughter, a very girly girl, was 'in character' as an old man. She is the one in the brown vest!

It was comical how easy it was to visualize some of the girls a few decades down the road. The costumes and make-up were well done.

"In character" --

Reminiscing over a game of bingo!

Now, out of character, after the play ... still wearing her costume and make-up, posing with the flower bouquets presented to her!
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In the entertainment world when the person is being him-or-herself, he or she is said to be "out of character". The opposite is 'in character', which is a person acting or portraying someone else.

I was thinking how much we dislike 'hypocrites' -- acting contrary to who you are --- and yet we all love someone who when 'in character' does it convincingly.

What is the difference?

Maybe the answer is simple -- a 'hypocrite' is purposely hiding who he really is for a self-serving purpose. Someone 'in character' is portraying visually the story of someone else.

We rightfully admire someone's ability to do that well.

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Did you ever stop to think that as believers we face that choice every day ?

Will be be 'in character' or 'out of character' ?

"In character" we of course portray the life of Christ through our words and actions.

How convincing are we ?

Or are we often caught being "out of character" - acting in our own flesh ?

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My granddaughter, in the above 'out of character' photo still showed the visual evidence of her being part of the production's cast. When we as believers act 'out of character' we still show 'evidence' that we are indeed a member of the 'Jesus' cast' . Our profession, the bumper stickers on our cars, our church memberships --- people watching will see evidence that we are a cast member.

Just as a person 'in character' disappoints the audience if he acts 'out of character' on stage -- so also we as believers on the stage of life disappoint those watching if we act 'out of character'.

Let us look in the mirror each morning, and resolve to be 'in character' -- and make no excuses that allow for 'out of character' moments !!

Rom 13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."

Perhaps that verse could be paraphrased like this... "But remember to be in character of the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provisions for the flesh to tempt you to be out of character"

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From Hog Hell to Hog Heaven

I came across this delightful news story today . Find it here


I grew up on a small farm and we often had pigs. I have always liked pigs because they are very intellegent creatures. Studies reveal they are actually smarter than dogs !


I believe that this little 'piggy' knew that he was heading for Hog Hell. He had his wits about him and figured there must be better place ! So he did what he had to do - get out of the truck taking him straight to 'death' .
He risked the life he was going to lose anyway ... and wiggled his way out of the truck .. hoping there would be someone to save him!

Of course there was... and now he is getting the best of care, destined to live the rest of his life in Hog Heaven !

I'm sure I don't have to spell out the analogy here....
Seems to me this Wiggles is a lot smarter than many humans.

Every human being - by default- goes through life in a 'truck' driven by Satan on its way to a sure hell.
The moment we are born - we are guarenteed to die !

If only we have our wits about us to figure out that that there has to be an escape. Isn't it worth risking all we have to find it ???
If we just 'wiggle' our way out of the default truck ... will there be Someone to find us ?? Yes, of course, His name is Jesus. He will pick us up, clean us up, put us back together again....and He guarentees that we will never go 'to market' . Instead we are offered His protection until we come into our eternal Home to live forever in a beautiful place !!

Mat 16:25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
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Helpful Tool for Understanding Your Neighbour

We all live with people who do not believe the way we do - in our neighbourhoods, at work or at play – people we meet and interact with in our daily lives.
As Christians, if we want to dialogue with them about our own faith, it is sometimes helpful to understand where they are coming from.

Nelson’s Illustrated Guide to Religions by James A Beverley is a wonderful resource to give you an overview of the major religions of the world as well as hundreds of new religious belief systems.

This 850 page volume is well organized into 19 main sections … Baha’i, Branch Davidians, Buddhism, Christian Science, Christian Sectarian Groups, Hinduism, Islam , Jehovah’s Witnesses, Judaism, Mormonism, The New Age, Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Satanism, Scientology, Sikhism, Unification Church, Witchcraft.

These main sections make it easy to find the info that you are looking for regarding any religion or off shoot group.

The book is written in an easy to read and understand way and is meant as an introduction to the different religions, rather than a complicated in depth study.

I appreciated the ten principles the author laid out that form the framework within which he responds to the hundreds of groups and leaders covered in the book.
Principles like the one he lists first … “All religions and philosophies are to be measured by the final revelation of God in Jesus Christ”. (pg8)

While this is not a book you curl up with to read from cover to cover in one sitting , it is a book you will want to keep handy to inform yourself of what a certain religion, referred to in the street or the media , really teaches. Living in a multi cultural world that is shrinking rapidly in so many ways, connecting people shoulder to shoulder … gives Christians an opportunity to be a ‘missionary’ without stepping out of their own neighbourhood. But we cannot be effective if we don’t understand what our friends and neighbours believe.
With 'Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions' in your hand , you will no longer have an excuse not to know !!

Roots

A new development is going in on our side of the mountain not far from where we live. We often pass it on our walks since it lies between trails and the two flights of stairs.. one 117 steps and one 101 steps.

I took this photo of a huge root ball that is lying beside the road waiting to be taken away for landfill or to be burned.

It is huge! and I wonder what the tree looked like and how many years it took the tree to grow that big and strong. Storms came and winds blew but this tree stood unmovable through them all because of its huge underground root system.

We, as believers, are seen and judged for what others can see -- the above-ground things....but no one but God can see the under-ground roots. How strong are they ? Strong enough to hold steady through the storms of life ?

There is a verse Col 2:6,7 that says "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

Our roots need to be in HIM .... not in anything else. A tree whose roots go down into shifting sand or unstable ground will not be able to grasp hold and grow for the years it takes to grow a strong root system.
And during its years of growing, a tree needs healthy nourishment uncontaminated by poisons and causes of root rot . Root rot is caused by fungi and thrives in poor soil conditions.
A tree is only as healthy as its roots.
Our scripture passage in Colossians goes on to warn in verse 8.... "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."

I am currently reading a book called "The Battle for Truth" written by David A. Noebel. It is talking about how we as Christians in the western world have compromised our faith by allowing world views to infilterate our Christian worldview and have therefore become ineffective and weak. It is decaying our roots .

(It is an excellent book and I will be talking more about it in future posts... but if you come across it I highly recommend it !)

We have been once again informed by 'science' that they have found an ancient form of 'human' that we have evolved from. She even has a name, Ida !

Our children are being taught that this is 'truth' proven by science but held up to God's truth the root of 'science so called' is revealed to be 'rotten'. Paul warned Timothy in 1Ti 6:20 , "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called"

There is only one truth, Jesus! (Eph 4:21. "..... the truth is in Jesus!!")

One truth to put our roots down into strong and deep! and if we do, we will ensure that we stand when everything else falls around us !!!