I had never seen a car that purple. I mean purple. Real purple. The kind of purple that when he walked into the paint store the guy must have said, "Give me the purplest purple you have." To which the attendant behind the counter undoubtedly replied, "Oh, you must want our newest shade, 'Ultra-Purple.'"
As I sat behind that car at the stoplight this morning I thought to myself, "This dude must order Grape Crush by the caseload." I also sat there thinking about pancakes, Philippians 4, and ZZ Top. Now I know what you must be thinking: How in the world do all of those things fit together? The easy answer to your question: They don't. And that's the point.
Earlier this morning, I had breakfast with my dear friend, Edward. As with most Tuesday mornings, we gather for pancakes at IHOP, enjoy good conversation, bad jokes that would make a grown man groan, and a chapter out of the Greek New Testament. This morning, we read Philippians 4.
In the chapter, Paul spends a good amount of time trying to help his readers value contentment no matter the situation. Using himself as an example, he talks about being rich, poor, and everything in between. But now that he is in Christ, none of those labels mean what they used to. Free, slave, healthy, or beaten next to death, he says he can endure anything through the power of Christ.
While Edward and I read such wonderful thoughts, the music cascading down from the ceiling speakers included ZZ Top's, "Just Got Paid." I thought that was kind of funny. Billy was growling over the distorted guitars about his pocket full of change while Edward read Paul's description of lacking absolutely nothing. And how could I have anticipated while we read such wonderful words that not moments later I would be sitting behind the purplest car ever painted?
On the surface, a purple car, two pancakes, Pauline theology, and ZZ Top may not seem to have anything in common. And while to the untrained eye such a list may seem downright incongruous, they all come together in one very simple way: Our daily lives.
Every day we encounter a bunch of stuff that doesn't go together. That's life. But through it all, making our way through disparate experiences as best we can, those of us in Christ keep reminding ourselves of what we sometimes call "First Things." One such first thing is that each of us can get through the day by the one who gives us strength.
