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My husband Mike grew up in Michigan. We often drive through Cincinnati on our way to visit his family a couple of times a year. Just north of Cincinnati, right on I-75, sits Solid Rock Church, a 4000+ member Christian megachurch near Monroe, Ohio. For years, just in front of the church was a 62-foot tall statue of Jesus with his arms up in the air, almost as if he was signaling a touchdown… hence the nickname, “Touchdown Jesus”. It was quite a landmark and people came from all around to see it in person. However, in the early morning hours of July 15, 2010 lightning struck the large statue and it burned down to just the charred support structure.
A little over two years later, a newer statue was put in place of the old one. I call the newer one the kinder, gentler, “Hug Me Jesus”.
“Hug me, Jesus” speaks more to Jesus’ relationship with us, in my opinion. It’s as if he is reaching out to others to come near. “Touchdown Jesus” seemed more focused on reaching up to God and away from what is happening here on earth. I know many people like to live that way, focusing more on what to do to get to heaven, instead of trying to bring a little bit of heaven down to earth by making this world a kinder, more loving place to live. But the more I study the way of Jesus in the Bible, the more I believe we are to partner with God here on earth, and focus on what we can do to help the Kingdom of God that is in the here and now.
I think it’s a pretty radical mind shift, switching from a belief-based religion to a practice-based religion.
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