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Passion, Peace, and Jimmy Dean Sausage

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Psalm 34:14
Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Jimmy DeanOk, I admit it. I am a huge fan of the Jimmy Dean commercials that feature goofy men dressed up in goofy sun, moon, and stars outfits. I like them so much that I’ll rewind my DVR just to watch them. (If you’ve never seen one, it’s well worth a Google search to take a peek.) I think the reason I like them so much is because, well, they feature goofy men dressed up in goofy outfits. To me, that is the perfect picture of passionate pursuit. Sure, they may only be pursuing a serious acting career, or maybe just their next paycheck from Jimmy Dean, but they are passionate enough about something to go to the great lengths of wearing a sun outfit large enough to hide most of their body parts!

I’d say it’s fair to ask how passionately we’re pursuing peace. Sydney quoted this verse to Wendy last night as they were saying good-night to each other and it really got me asking myself about it. Do I pursue peace? Do you? I get the fact that we all want peace, crave peace, and would choose peace any day of the week over the chaos that surrounds most of us. But apparently peace isn’t the type of thing to just fall in our laps. It is, though, something we are to go after.

As I read the verses around this one, I realized that there is a lot going on. The Lord has delivered David, there was lying and evil, people are being cut off from the face of the earth, and even the righteous are at times crushed and brokenhearted. Peace is not a lack of noise or activity. It is not even a lack of questions or concerns about what is happening around us. But it is a lack of worry. It is the state of being so complete- so sound and safe- in our relationship with the Lord that no matter what goes on around us, we know nothing can touch that. If God is for us, Paul wrote to the Romans, who can be against us?

Now, I can pursue that passionately! I can’t pursue a lack of activity, because I’d just get bored. I don’t want to pursue all knowledge, because there is so much reward in questioning. But to be in a place where the evil around me does not scare me or phase me? I’ll do anything in the pursuit of that.

Well, I’m not sure about hawking sausage in a sun outfit.

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November 10, 2009by Paul Jenkins
Written by Paul Jenkins
Paul Jenkins is lead pastor of The Gathering, a community church located in beautiful downtown Albemarle, North Carolina. He's the author of God is My Air Traffic Controller and My Name's Not Lou. Paul is passionate about his wife, his 3 children, running, reading, coaching, leading people who are following Jesus, Swedish Fish and the Carolina Panthers.