Options

Early this morning, when I picked up my cell phone for the first time today, I realized that I’d received a voice mail the night before.

I flipped the phone open, punched the message button, and heard a different voice. This was not the mechanical, robot-woman voice I was used to. It was somebody else. A new mechanical, robot-voice lady had forced her way into my life.

“Your voicemail has changed,” she informed me.

What? Who is this cyborg woman to think that she can just blow into town and start changing stuff? And, what did she do with old mechanical, robot-voice lady, anyway?

This was not good. I hadn’t even had my second cup of coffee.

She really didn’t care. “You need to choose a new password,” she told me. “Take a few seconds, and think of one now.”

Wow. That’s some kind of pressure.

I did the best I could under the low-caffeine circumstances, and apparently my password choice was satisfactory. She was only momentarily appeased, however, and continued to drag me by force through many more prompts and cues, including the dreaded, “please record a new greeting now, beep!”

With the future of my telecommunications life at stake, I struggled to cope with the pace of change and the swath of new mailbox opportunities that swirled before me.

Finally, as I satisfied the final of her direct demands for change, she spoke the magic words: “Press 4 to change your options.”

Not kidding. That’s what she said.

I stood at the precipice, deciding whether to jump.

Just for emphasis, and to prod the undecided, she repeated herself. I swear she got slower and louder the second time.

“Press 4 to change your options.”

I am way too metaphorical a dude to say something like that to. For a second, my right thumb hovered over the “4” button.

I folded the phone shut, placed it on the dresser, and backed away -- slowly.

Who knows the potential evil that lurked inside that sub-menu? My “voicemail stuff” might never have been the same.

2,000 years ago this week, the disciples were running out of options.

The world was closing in, their leader was treading on ever-thinning ice, and Jerusalem seemed more dangerous every day. They were just over 24 hours from a final meal…an arrest…a mock trial…beating…humiliation…fear…denial…death.

By Saturday, the world that had once seemed so full of possibility and hope seemed dark and cold. Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried.

On the third day… he reset more than their voicemail.

Lots of people try lots of things when they’re desperate to cope with change, or desperate to find some new options. Most of us just tinker with the buttons, re-recording the same old message in a hundred different ways.

One thing works --- just one thing.

…When the gardener saw her, she was an incredible mess. Wrenched by sobs and trembling with emotion, she was a perfect picture of anger and pain. He needed to say something…anything.

“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying?”

Broken, weeping, she was a woman devoid of options. Death had filled her world.

Choking back the tears, mustering all she had left, she worked up the words. “Tell me where you put him.”

“Mary,” he said.

Time stood still in the split-seconds that followed. His voice hit her eardrum, filtered through her brain, matched with memories too important to be lost, and emerged in recognition... “Teacher?”

TEACHER!

Resurrection. God pressed the “4” button, and our options will never be the same.

Happy Easter!

Adam

LIFE AT SOTH:

Our continuing study of Jim Collins’ Good to Great will meet tonight at the church, 6:30 pm to look at “Confronting the Brutal Facts, but Never Losing Hope.”

Good Friday service will be help this Friday night at the church, 7pm. David Rahn and the praise band will lead us as volunteers read the scripture story of Holy Week. Our worship will be a “service of shadows” as candles are extinguished until only darkness remains. We depart Good Friday night worship in silence, symbolic of the death of Christ on the cross.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Easter Egg hunt to be held at Armin and Jonl Steinke’s home on Oak Hill Road, 10 AM this Saturday. E-mail your rsvp to Kathryn Beasley, Kathryn@sothumc.net

On Easter Sunday we will offer worship at 7:00 a.m. (sunrise service at the pavillion), 8:30 and 10:00. The music will be wonderful, and we will introduce our new Puppet Ministry for children’s Sunday School! Bring any blooming plants from your home to place in our flowering cross at the church entrance. This great tradition is a powerful visual symbol of resurrection for the community.

SERVANT EVANGELISM UPDATE:
Thank you to Tim Potate and everyone who worked to make the servant evangelism “$1 Car Wash” happen this past Saturday. Nearly 60 vehicles from the community were washed, but we didn’t raise money, we gave it away! Every car received a good wash, and the drives got a $1 bill and a card saying “God Loves You a Lot. If you ever need help, 770-920-1551.” God will bless the seeds of grace planted by this event. Great job!

Random Acts of Christian Kindness: RACK Ministry Update
Send us your stories! sandi@sothumc.net

"When Adam began talking about this neat ministry, one of the people that
works for me immediately came to my mind. I dismissed that thought because I thought
I would have an opportunity to give it to a stranger. I'm not sure why I thought it
had to be a stranger, but there you go.

Anyway, over the last few weeks since we received our envelopes, I fully expected to see one of the homeless people that I see everyday because I work in Atlanta. I have not seen a single one. I then thought I would see someone in the grocery store that God would lead me to give the envelope to, but that did not happen either.

In the meantime, this lady that works for me is taking care of her very
ill father, her mother, who is divorced from her father and lives alone, had a
stroke, her fiancé had a heart attack, while on the phone with her, and her son spent a
weekend in jail due to a clerical error at the DMV. This week she was told that they
have figured out what is wrong with her father, he has leukemia and it is in his bone
marrow.

I gave her the envelope yesterday. I explained the ministry and that even
though she is a Christian and knows God loves her, I thought she may need to hear it
right now. She was so grateful and was tearful. She said she was wondering how she was going to pay parking at the hospital the next day.

I'm not sure why I was so sure that it had to be a stranger but I'm glad I finally listened
to God! I'm looking for my next opportunity!"