Veggie-vangelism

Not too long ago, a friend of mine was babysitting my youngest for the morning and popped in a Veggie Tales video, Josh and the Big Wall, to keep him busy. She was surprised to realize that, through this video intended for kids, she was shown some new details about the story of Joshua and ended up rereading the entire narrative in her Bible as a result. Later she even applied what she’d seen and read to a devotional she was writing for a group of adults at church. Video for kids, indeed.

This afternoon on the treadmill, I had a very similar experience. I was listening to a workout playlist I’d created in iTunes quite a while ago, and, as I was hitting my stride in my run, I was literally stopped dead in my tracks and brought to my knees by one of the songs. And yes, you guessed it, it’s a Veggie Tales song. It’s from the first full-length Veggie Tales movie, Jonah, and is entitled “Second Chances.” You can see the full version of the lyrics here, and you can also click on the play button next to the song title to hear a sample. The following is the part that really struck me during my run:

You see God’s a god of mercy,
And God’s a god of love.
And right now, He’s gonna lend a helping hand from up above!

Praise the Lord!
He’s the God of second chances!
You’ll be floored how His love your life enhances!
You can be restored from your darkest circumstances!
Our God is a God of second chances!

I’ve been in church a good portion of my life and heard the theology behind these lyrics a thousand times, so there’s nothing new here. But right now I am in a very challenging part of my life’s journey and, among other things, I am struggling mightily with giving some recently-admitted parts of my past over to God. I’ve been acting as though He couldn’t possibly forgive all that I’ve done because, to me, some of it seems unforgivable, even for God. Acting this way boils down to a phenomenal amount of pride on my part, but that’s another post.

The point here is that today God opened my ears to hear something He’s been trying hard to get me to understand. He is the God of second chances, no matter the sin or the sinner. And He used Veggies to get through to my stubborn self. I’d never have guessed.