A Clean Slate to let Christ dominate in '08

Men,

During the Christmas holiday while I was in Atlanta, my mom and stepdad Bill took me and my kids with them to enjoy an afternoon with one of his favorite co-workers, John, and his wife, nicknamed LaLa, who lived in the Uptown area just northwest of downtown Atlanta. Both my brothers and their wives and my little niece Drew rounded out the company. We enjoyed ribs, fresh red potatoes, and more food than I can recall to name, cooked both on their new smoker grill which John had named R2D2 and in their kitchen by LaLa, who is a professional chef. Man, was their some food chowed down on that day! We were fed like kings and queens and treated to outdoor time on their raised and roofed backyard deck John had built that protected us from the misty rain and cooling air. It was also wired with flat screen TVs that allowed us to watch the Cowboys lose while we enjoyed all the "make-you-want-to-swallow-your -tongue" delectables LaLa had created, with the bird sanctuary that bordered their backyard providing the backdrop.

With all that to enjoy, we were truly blessed that day. But an unexpected blessing came when my mom asked LaLa to share the story behind a rectangular-shaped slab of slate that hung on the wall over their kitchen sink area. It had no markings, no words, and nothing distinctive to make it noticeable. My mom, however, had been the only person in 4 years to have noticed it and asked LaLa what was up with the slate deco. Apparently John, while they dated before they were married 4 years prior was constantly saying, "I just want a clean slate." Meaning in life, of course. Why? I don't know. I'm not sure it really matters--we all want that, don't we? So, she finally went and got him one and wrote, "Here's your clean slate. Love, LaLa" and dated it.

I totally loved that story and told her I was at least going to make off with the idea and go find my own clean slate--to symbolize what I've been already been given by Jesus' completed work on the cross (that part I didn't share at the time). The best part came later out on the deck when I shared with John how much I like the clean slate story and its prescence in their kitchen. Without any hesitation, he immediately offered to give me a piece of slate to take home with me. Being a builder, he had taken a lot of pride in crafting and decorating their home with a lot of natural stone and happened to have a few pieces of slate right under the open steel fire pit that was warming us out on the deck under the trees. He just reached under, grabbed one, and handed it to me. I didn't even ask him for it. He just asked me if I wanted it and gave it to me. Reminded me of Jesus' gift of His payment for my sins and giving me His righteousness that I might have a clean slate before our Holy God and begin enjoying an increasingly intimate relationship with Him--eternal life, that is. (see John 17:3)

I pray I can allow that real and symbolic experience and the real-life metaphor I brought back home with me (I plan to have it shaped in the form of a cross when I can find someone with a carbide saw to cut the stone) to continue as a reminder of the clean slate we have all been given in Christ. I also plan to let it be a jump off point for a long-distance witnessing opportunity when I write and express my gratitude and share the deeper meaning it had for me. For that, you can certainly spur me on and hold me accountable.

In the meantime, I pray the online 'clean slate' we have to work with on this blog will become a place where we can all spur each other on to more love and good deeds as we walk as disciples of the King, yoked to learn from and give witness to Him on the Journey home as pilgrims everywhere we go with every desire of our heart, thought of our mind, word from our mouth, response in and care of our body, and relationship in our life. Let's go deep with Him and then sing praises with our mouths and lives every day.