The Clown on Stilts

He was a clown. On stilts. Why, i'm not sure. I think it was to make him that much more entertaining. It didn't really work. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I was friends with this girl named Ashley (or Ashlee, or Ashleigh - I don't remember). I was a young urban professional, getting in on the ground floor of a very promising business. They served great cheeseburgers there. I'd been there a few months and met Ashley. She was a really nice girl. Pretty, but unsure of herself (but who isn't at 16?). We forged a bond working the drive through together, and I think thinly veiled crushes began to form, beneath our mantle of friendship.

Turns out, Ashley lived right downt the street from my church (which was also my school), where I spent a lot of time after school waiting for my transport service (who doubled as my mom). She and I would swing on swings and awkwardly talk sometimes. Then her little brother would show up and say embarrasing things like "she's wants to kiss you! She told me!". She would turn bright, bright red, like a traffic light that desperately wanted someone to stop. She would yell at him to go home, while I mumbled something about having to double-check some math problems. Teenage romance at it's finest.

Well, it was fall and my youth group planned an all-nighter. So I invited Ashley, hoping she would become a Christian so I could marry her with a clean conscience (this must have been what I was thinking). So she went and we showed up at this really cool, jumbo indoor sports-plex. I think they even had raquetball courts.

Moments after we walked in, there he was. That horrible clown. On stilts. He ambled toward us, like some terrible, deformed spider-creature. He lumbered right up to Ashley, and made some loud wisecrack about her shirt being immodest. It probably was - I think it was one of those tank tops with the thin straps. But Ashley turned into a stop light again.

I don't really remember much else about that night. Ashley didn't become a Christian (that I know of). We stayed friends, and 6 months later she was dating The Biggest Loser in Town. I haven't talked to her, let alone even thought about her in years. So what's the point??

It's that clown, man. He had it all wrong. He was too focused on what Ashley looked like on the outside, not on what she was like as a person. Now is it this clown's fault that Ashley doesn't believe in Jesus? I doubt it. But when Jesus saw people, he didn't get caught up in how they looked. Jesus knew the outside would change, after the inside got a makeover.

In Luke 19:1-10, we read about Zacchaeus. Jesus saw this guy, this little thieving weasel, walked right up to him and said "I'm coming over for dinner tonight so I can get to know you better." Boom! All of a sudden this corrupt tax collector gets a change of heart and swears to pay back everyone he stole from. There came an outward change after the person inside was shown love. That's what Christ wants us to do. "This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you." - John 15:12