“Overwhelmed or Underwhelmed?”

Meeting a Celebrity

She could not wait to meet Kirk Cameron. The Hollywood star was at an area bookstore to sign copies of his new book.

As a teenager, she’d diligently followed his acting career. His magazine pictures and posters covered the walls in her room. Now a Christian, Cameron was using his celebrity platform to promote his faith in Jesus.

Waiting in line, this wife and mother planned what to say when she met him. She rehearsed it several times. When she stepped before the actor, he smiled and said hello.

In response, her body shut down.

Knees turned to jelly. Throat closed up. Mind went blank.

Finally, desperate to say something, she cried, “I used to have you all over my walls.” Kirk Cameron laughed, thanked her, and signed her book. Her brain still in a fog, she moved on without saying any of the things she’d intended.

Meeting THE Celebrity

Meeting famous people can make it hard for you and me to think, speak, or even breathe. Yet, why are we overwhelmed by celebrities when they’re human, just like us?

And when we gather for worship, why are we so often underwhelmed? Why do we so often treat entering the presence of our Creator as routine and boring?

  

To the prophet Isaiah, meeting the Lord was anything but ordinary or yawn-inducing. Seated on a high and exalted throne, the train of God’s robe filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1). What a big King!

Even the six-winged heavenly beings dared not look directly at God’s face. They covered their face with two wings, covered their feet with two wings, and flew with their other two wings. Their praise was so loud it shook the room like an earthquake (Isaiah 6:2-4). 

In the presence of God, angels are far from underwhelmed.

What about us? The next time we come before the Lord, will we pray to become overwhelmed?

David