"Are We Clear?", by Pastor Kevin Lynch

I can't hear that question without picturing Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise in a Few Good Men.

"Are we clear?"

"Crystal".

Great moment in film.

A reminder that we need to be crystal clear. Everything needs to be crystal clear.

I think for most it's never as clear as we would like it to be.

There was time for me when it was not only NOT clear, but fuzzy and foggy.

I was reminded yesterday how that happens, because while it is all fuzzy and foggy, we tend to think it's normal.

My object lesson came yesterday during a switch of my television and internet providers.

I have four tv's in the house, one in the living room, one in each bedroom, and one in the downstairs family room. The one in the living room is a typical flat screen high definition model.

I thought I was seeing the best quality and clarity technology could provide with HD cable channels. I thought I was surfing the internet at the fastest I could as well.

I came to find out that I wasn't seeing clear at all. The new system I received yesterday, with it's fiber optics technology, showed me just how much I was settling for, and how much more there was to be more clear and much faster.

Right up to the time I went to bed last night, my son and I marveled at the brilliant display of colors and sound that we now had access to. We raved at how our computers are downloading at lightning speeds.

In a nutshell, the new service leaves the best of the old service in the dust.

Am I clear? Crystal.

Well, as far as my sensory media issues are concerned anyway.

For me to be crystal in life I have learned to trust another Provider outside of myself or the technology of man.

I go all the way back to the OT book of Exodus for that.

I learned at a time when a veil of death from physical excesses was at my door. I learned that while I thought I was in control and seeing life clearly, I was in a shadow of darkness.

It was Christ who brought the clarity.

Exodus 33:13 - "Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You [progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly] and that I may find favor in Your sight. And [Lord, do] consider that this nation is Your people."

I essentially came to be aware of my blindness and turned to Jesus and somehow got my plea across to Him. It was very much according to the above passage.

He brought clarity and meaning to my life. He straightened out all the crooked wrinkles.

He asked me essentially...

"Are we clear?"

I answered, "Crystal".

Let me put that same question to you today.

Are YOU clear? And I mean about issues of life and eternity. Are you truly clear?

Maybe it doesn't always seem crystal clear in everything we do, but it should be concerning our eternal destiny and present life in this giant snow globe.

Jesus brings that to the table and makes it possible.

Think about it.

***Pray for the people of Haiti. Do something as well to help ease their pain. Ask your local church to start a fund if they haven't already.***

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><