Impressionability

I will be starting a new Blog post series today. I promise to finish the one on movies, but it will end after this one begins. I wanted to share a number of stories from my life and how they relate to faith and how they have helped shape what I believe.

So let us begin...

I think infants are quite intelligent in general. I think they have ideas and feelings, they just have difficulty expressing some of them to others. When I was 10 months old, I know I was saying a few words. When I was 1.5 I know I was throwing fits for attention. I don't remember either of these things, but my parents tell me I would do that. My mother also tells me that when I would throw a fit in teh store, she would just step over me and go on to the next isle. I would then stop crying, walk to the next isle, and proceed to throw the fit again. Again, I never remember this happening, but whatever. The things I was doing as an infant seems to be about average for most infants.

I also think infants, in general, are extremely impressionable.  When I was two, I watched Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.  That cartoon first aired the year I was born and continued airing until I was three. On character on the show was Ice-Man. He was voiced by Frank Welker (who has been a voice on G.I. Joe, Transformers, The Real Ghostbusters, and about a zillion other shows). The Ice-Man could turn himself from a regular person into a person made out of ice. He would then uses his hands to create an ice path to slide down.

Kind of hard to explain, but you can watch a clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EndvUr0Lcag&feature=related

So anyway, when he became the Ice-Man, he also lost his clothes. So as a two-year-old, I decided that I should be the Ice-Man, and I would lose my clothes and slide down my grandmothers slide wearing nothing but a smile. When my grandmother first saw me do this, she said, "Scott, what in the world are you doing? Where are your clothes?" I replied: "Granny, I'm not Scott, I'm the Ice-Man." I actually don't remember this event either, but I guess it happened.

Wow...what an embarrassing story...oh well.

So how does me playing a naked Ice-Man relate to faith? Well, as I stated above, I believe that infants are very impressionable. I was so impressionable that I wanted to be a cartoon character. I see the same thing happen with my daughter. She was to be Rapunzel with her long flowing hair, and her dress. What would happen if we as adults had that same desire to be like Christ? How awesome would it be if we allowed God to mold us so to his likeness?

This week, I want to encourage you to make yourself impressionable before God, so that the Holy Spirit can direct your path--your actions, thoughts, and attitude--in such a way that you are drawn closer to Christ.

Also, remember that other people are watching you. Some of them are young, but perhaps many of them are impressionable. What kind of person are you encouraging others to be? Remember, our actions often speak louder than our words.