Ray is PCC’s Senior Pastor

Friends,

What do you know about Paris? Wait! I should be more specific. Not Paris as in France, the Eiffel tower and the Louvre; but Paris as in celebrity, Hilton heiress and the Los Angeles County jail. Like most Americans, it could be you know way more than you want or need to know.

Miss Hilton’s jail sentence of 45 days for violating probation by driving on a suspended license has turned into a total media circus over the last two weeks. Talking heads on every TV news channel continue to spend a ton of on-air time discussing the whole ridiculous thing. Does Paris deserve 45 days in the pokey, the big house, the hoosegow? I don’t know. All that seems verifiable is she snubbed authorities and broke the law; for which she now suffers the consequences. The result? The 26-year-old woman who can stay up all night and party her brains out has suddenly fallen ill and is being portrayed as a fragile, sickly, mistreated con [which this may well be].

Apparently, however, recent events have had some impact on Paris. Just this week she was quoted,

I’m not the same person I was. I know I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance. I don’t want to cause any more problems.

Honestly, her comment stunned me. I wasn’t sure Paris could even spell GOD let alone conceive of His existence and interest in her life. And He is interested, by the way. God loves Paris. [No, not the city.] Could it be she loves Him or perhaps has simply realized there is a power much greater in the universe than the Hilton family? At the very least, God seems to be on her radar screen. Isn’t it interesting how God gets attention in the midst of suffering?

Before we judge Paris too severely, let me ask, don’t we all tend to buck authority? Spiritually speaking, we all know what it is like to violate divine law. Even as those who know God, we often unwisely push the limits of rebellion until consequences result. Only then, do we look to God.

One thing experience has taught me, by and large, human beings wisely respect the law but obey pain. When we feel the heat, we often see the light.

Fear the LORD and the king, my child, and do not join with the rebellious, for those two will send sudden destruction upon them, and who knows what calamities they can bring? -Proverbs 24:21-22

Ray