Thank God He isn't Zeus...

Dropping in uninvited into people's homes and giving rise to his demigod progeny. Or maybe like Athena: someone's after you, you get shamed and hurt, and you run into the temple asking for help. Next thing you know, you have snakes hissing where your hair used to be, and you're dragging your scaly belly and twenty-foot reticulated tail around.

For the price of movie tickets (and with my husband right next beside me, to boot), I got fresh insight into just a few of the things that make God, well...God.

For instance, this uninvited thing.

Jesus talked about knocking. Calling out. And being given the chance to decide, upon hearing His voice, whether we want to let Him in or not.
And in His perfect Holiness, God would never, ever want -- or could -- defile you with the slightest blemish. In fact, this is what He specializes in...

Dealing with our sinning, shameful selves. And making sure we end up spotless in the end.

The woman who was caught in adultery caused the Holy Hand of God's own Son to write on the sand. Perhaps, conjectures one Bible scholar: a list of sins of each member of the angry mob? But most telling äre His own words:
"...neither do I condemn you..go now and leave your life of sin."

Instead of turning her into a scaly horror, He lets her undergo a spiritual molting like no other. She starts out as a serpent-like creature, the object of scorn, wrath and a death sentence. With His declaration, she sheds the life of sin, and becomes a new creation alive in the Son.

And let us not forget the sacrifice thing.

While most other beliefs, such as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, usually involve the concept of deities demanding human sacrifice, true Christianity is founded upon the concept of God sacrificing His own Son to redeem us.

When I first learned that Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson would be in Clash of the Titans, I knew then that I wanted to watch. The effects, the story, the action, the actors, the acting!

Instead I came home extremely, indescribably grateful that it's just another Hollywood moneymaker. And that the Real God isn't hungry for our worship (deserving, yes; lusting after, no), or up to some mischief, or capable of being baffled, beaten or deceived.

So go ahead, release the Kraken.

But remember to grab hold of the Truth.

Some ten-foot poles just aren't long enough...

...Especially when it comes to sleeping dogs such as relationships laid to rest, sins you've turned your back on already, and things you promised yourself (or, more crucially, God and another person) you'd never think, say or do.

Learned this lesson the hard way just a while ago.

An erstwhile suitor who quietly faded into the background over two decades ago somehow faded into my Facebook list of Friend Requests. Quickly assessing the former situation (brief, seemingly harmless, nipped-in-the-bud attempt at teenage courtship), I reckoned it would be fine to click Confirm. This isn't so-and-so with whom I got really serious; nor such-and-such whom I considered my first real love; thus went my internal ethics committee and auditors.

However, once I actually responded to the perfunctory hellos on FB chat...the thread took on an increasingly tangled direction. As in, tangled around his thinly-veiled attempts to awaken the sleeping dog, and resurrect a relationship that never was.

I cut the connection right there and rued the day I dared use the ten-foot pole.

Just last week the same thing happened: a phrase I vowed never to use with someone very close to me, just seemed to slip over my tongue and slide right out of my mouth. I hurt someone terribly, and though things between us have taken a turn for the better, still......That weight, that sigh keeps cropping up every now and then.

For some things, even 20-foot poles aren't up to the job. When you touch something with a pole, there's just no way of telling beforehand if the thing cannot manage to grab hold of the pole, shake it loose from your grasp, and eradicate the safe distance between you.

If you're even thinking of touching that sleeping dog...DON'T. It doesn't respect poles, no matter what their length. Sleeping dogs are meant to lie.

Drop the pole, turn your back, and keep walking towards the future God has for you. That's the safest way to go.

So what am I thankful for?

Uhm, this time, I guess, it would have to be that lovely little link called Log Out.