“Flying back from Lubbock I saw Jesus on the plane. Or maybe it was Elvis, you know, they kind of look the same” - Don Henley, If Dirt were Dollars

I remember when I lived in Atlanta ages and ages ago reading a story that caused me to be more conscientious of my example before others as a Christian.

The story went something like this: Last month, Joyce Simpson, an Atlanta fashion designer, was debating whether she should stay in the church choir or quit to sing professionally. She prayed for a divine sign. Then, as she pulled out of a gas station in Stone Mountain, Georgia, she looked up at a Pizza Hut billboard and saw the face of Jesus looking down at her from a forkful of steaming spaghetti. “It was not just any “Jesus-in-the-spaghetti” she said, but “the Michelangelo version”; it had deep set eyes, a beard and a crown of thorns.

Simpson decided to stay in the church choir. She also told her story to the Atlanta Constitution, and soon more people reported seeing faces in the roadside pasta ad. Dozens claimed to see Christ too. But others called Pizza Hut to say they saw deceased rock star Jim Morrison and country singer Willie Nelson. The company denied hiding any images in its lunch special promotion. Religious or not, you have to figure a billboard is an odd spot for a divine revelation.

This is just part of an article that appeared in the Hartford Courant. The psychologists suggested the woman was trying to make a decision and interpreted the “image” in a way that gave her some guidance. As for the others, they were probably looking for signs of religion in everyday life.

The Bible teaches that we should seek God (Hebrews 11:6), and that He is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:28). But the place we find Him and His guidance is not in a plate of spaghetti, it’s in His word. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). God is as close to us as the nearest Bible, but just like you can’t learn English or Math unless you read and study, so it is with gaining direction and wisdom from God.

For those looking for signs of religion in everyday life, Christians need to do their part not to force them to have to look to Pizza Hut signs to see God. Jesus told us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Peter said, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:12).

Mike

Mike’s article reminded me of a time back in the 50’s in Dallas when on a popular morning news show some crackpot got on there and said a UFO invasion was coming soon – and for proof has anyone noticed the increase of chips in their windshields? The phones were flooded with hundreds of terrified people who called in to bear testimony that they had these mysterious chips. Apparently, for the first time, many people were looking AT their windshields instead of THROUGH them and they were shocked!

Randy

I wonder if that’s at all similar to us standing before God and if he’d show us our lives looking at them from the outside instead of the way we see them – self righteously from the inside. Will we be shocked to see the imperfections in our own character?