How good is your imagination?

John 12: 27-28

How good is your imagination?  As a child mine was amazing, after listening to a radio series of Inner Sanctum Mystery, which featured stories of terror and suspense. The show and it was a show in my mind, because I had the ability to form images and ideas, and see faces.  The series always began with a door with squeaky hinges that slowly opened. An organ began to play.  “Good evening, friends of the Inner Sanctum. This is Raymond, your host. I'm glad you came tonight, because we have a very special guest of horror with us. I'd like you meet the late Johnny Gravestone.  The most celebrated member of the Inner Sanctum Ghost Society. He's the best haunter of  all. Johnny's the tall figure in the white sheet wearing the blue ribbon. He's haunted everything from a palace to a telephone booth. And uh, if you're very nice to him, he'll be glad to consider giving your house the once over. Who knows? He might even haunt you? Ha-ha-ha-ha!”  Now it’s bedtime and do you think my imagination shut down, no way, an often my older brother who shared the room and bed would ask me questions, like did you see that or did you hear that sound under the bed.  And one wonders what was my mother thinking?
But now I’ve spent many years watching moves and television and guess what the imagination is no longer amazing, in fact it is almost gone, gone like high school algebra, as they say, if you do not use it, you will lose it.  So what I’m going to ask of myself, and you will not be easy, I want you to imagine that you are Jesus Christ.  To do this may be impossible, but then ask the Helper to set your imagination on these facts, as Christ you are the image of the invisible God, and you Created all things in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, and they were all created through you and for you.  You are worshiped by all the angels and have all authority and before you created anything you knew and you saw a cross, and on that cross you saw yourself, taking on the sin of the world.  The plan of your Father who loves the world that you spoke into being was that you would leave heaven where you are worshiped and become a baby placed into a young girl named Mary who was a virgin.  You would always be God but never would you depend on self, but would go to Your Father for all things.
All of that is just information because now you are a man, yes you are also God, but you are in total submission to Your Father, and it is getting near to the time of the cross, the cross You saw before the beginning of time.   Your mind fully understands what’s coming, the humility, the mocking, the pain, and the death, but most of all you understand that for the first time that it will create separation between You and your Father because you will take on sin and become the conqueror of death.  Now imagine you did this: “Now is my soul troubled.  And what shall I say?  Father, save me from this hour?  But for this purpose I have come to this hour.  Father glorify your name.” 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice