Joy

Lady Gaga, Little Monsters & Jesus!

/ Andy R Taylor / 32 Comments

It’s been about three years since Julie and I, Cameron and one of her friends went to a Lady Gaga concert in Oklahoma City. (I’ll wait a few seconds for those of you so righteous that you just sucked all the oxygen out of the room!I)

On the way to the Chesapeake Center where the concert was to be held there were picketers….Christian picketers…..a lot of them, displaying their signs and banners “, “Lady Gaga is the Devil”, “God hates gays”; “You’re going to hell!” …. you know the typical unconditional love stuff that we’re so known for!

An interesting thing that I did not know was that Lady Gaga’s loyal followers are known as “Little Monsters”. They dress up in some of the wildest, most bizarre costumes and get-ups that you could ever imagine. It’s like Halloween on steroids! I’ll have to admit, it was a little out of my comfort zone! But the show was unbelievable; I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lady Gaga, whether you like her or not, is an extremely talented young woman. She can sing, she can dance, she can play the piano. She can do it all!

But there was a point three quarters of the way into the show that I did NOT see coming! House lights out, she’s in the spotlight lying on the stage. She says,  “Jesus, …. up there in heaven, …. all those people outside tell me you don’t love me…..but I know that’s not true! I know you love me, and I know you love all these “Little Monsters”, too!” And the bigger part of 20,000+ young people cheered as loud as they possibly could. I had a big lump in my throat; I could barely hold back my tears.  And I wondered if anyone had ever told many of these “Little Monsters” that Jesus really does love them. Oh, I know they’ve been told they’re no good and that God’s mad at them. They’ve been reminded of that over and over again but you could tell that they so wanted her words to be true! And I think, somehow, they believed it.

If the Father can’t depend on the church to tell the ‘good news’, He’ll use Lady Gaga, or anyone else He chooses, to let all us “Little Monsters” know how much we’re really loved!

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“Loosen Up, Sandy Baby!”

/ Andy R Taylor / 1 Comment

I don’t know if you’ll remember that particular phrase or not, but I sure do, and it makes me laugh every time I think about it! John Riggins, a great pro football player, said that to Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor at a Presidential Gala back in the ’80’s.

John Riggins was a Kansas University, All-American running back who went on to the NFL’s Washington Redskins where he was named NFL’s MVP in 1983 and later inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame. He was a great running back and a very colorful character, to say the least! Invited to a big DC party along with a bunch of other ‘big whigs’, John proceeded to drink………a lot! Sitting across from Justice O’Connor and apparently noticing her high-society looks and maybe a remark or two in his direction, John says, “Loosen up, Sandy baby!” It made the national news. John ended up asleep under the table (probably passed out) during the President’s speech.

I like John Riggins even though he might’ve went a little far with his drinking on that particular night. But I think all of us could stand a good-size dose of his advice to Sandy! Life is serious, I mean really serious. And it brings with it all kinds of things to stress about. I’m like you…I can get so caught up in that kind of stuff sometimes that it can really get me down.

Worry is not healthy and it fights directly against our faith. I have to continually remind my own self of that. Statistics say, and looking back it’s been true for me as well, that about 75% of the things we worry about never happen anyway! That just says that we’re wasting a lot of valuable time not fully enjoying life. I’ve been guilty of that, but I’m trying to do better…..and I think I am doing some better at it. As many times as the Lord has rescued me, I should know as good as anyone that He’s got my back! If we’re going to get any real enjoyment out of life we’re going to have to learn to take John’s advice and ‘loosen up’!

Who knew that John Riggins’, “Loosen up, Sandy baby” would be so prophetic?!

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