I’m a visual learner.  You can tell me something, and I may or may not remember or understand it.  For instance, as a young teen (or preteen- can’t remember as that was a long time ago) I volunteered in a hospital as a candy-striper.  I thought I might enter the medical profession one day and so I wanted to get some “hands on” experience.  On my first day of candy-striping I was given an assignment (not so technically medical) – to fill up all the water pitchers (with ice) for the patients in a particular wing.  I don’t know why, but I remember that most all of the patients were men.  I was busy about my task, nearly finished, when one of the men chuckled…looked at me and said, “This gives new meaning to “peeing on the rocks”.  I had filled up all of the urinals with ice water!  I decided that day the medical profession was not for me.  I certainly missed something between instruction and implementation. I obviously needed someone to show me what to do.

I recently returned from a conference in Budapest, Hungary.  As I travel I am often struck at how much clearer life seems from the view 35,000 feet above the earth.  As I look down from a plane everything looks so neat, orderly and simple. Yet I know that in reality confusion, bitterness and loneliness reign within individuals down below.  While God’s word is very clear, I am moved to know that God’s heart was grieved when he looked down and saw evil and the resulting pain in the world. (Genesis 6:6)    The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

I am so grateful that I have a compassionate God who came down here to show me how to live. As He continually intervened in hearts and lives and worked through people and circumstances I wonder what conversations may have gone on between God and his son – what was said as they prepared for Jesus to come down and show us how to live.  I am so thankful that God didn’t look down with mere disgust and anger (which he certainly could have)….but instead looked with such love that he sent his beloved son to show us the way we were created to live.  He would not only show us how but would also enable us to break free from the power of sin and resulting separation from our Father.

(Luke 7:16)    They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”

He had already communicated clearly, but he went beyond words.   He came to help.  He showed us how.

(John 1:14)  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

He didn’t have to – but He cared that much.  Thank you, Jesus, for showing me how to love, how to forgive, how to relate to others, how to communicate, how to have purpose and how to think.

(1 John 4:9)  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

If I didn’t have Jesus showing me how to live real life every day I would be lost – and running around “filling urinals” while people around me are thirsting for water.