Forbes Magazine recently announced the top toys of the last 100 years.  Many of these toys are still being sold today, although the height of their popularity may have been many years ago.  Some of the best sellers were Crayola Crayons, G.I. Joe action figures (never call them dolls), Barbie Dolls, Raggedy Ann, Rubiks Cube, Candy Land board game, GAF Viewmaster, Slinky, Magic 8 Ball, Silly Putty, the Hula Hoop, Easy Bake Oven, Etch-A-Sketch, Matchbox Cars, Twister, The Razor Scooter and finally, the most popular toy of the past 100 years...LEGOS.

 

The greatest thing about LEGOS is what can be built when they all come together.  The bricks are so versatile that just six of them can be arranged in 915,103,765 ways. No wonder LEGO has been named "Toy of the Century"—twice.

 

Dig through any child's toy chest across the world and you're sure to find a few rectangular LEGO bricks in the mix. The colorful bricks have retained their popularity since being introduced 48 years ago. In 2000, LEGO was named "Toy of the Century" by Fortune magazine as well as by the British Toy Retailers Association, beating out such other classics as the Teddy Bear and Mattel's Barbie.

The LEGO Group's story begins in 1932, when Ole Kirk Christiansen began making wooden toys for children. However, the LEGO brick—as we know it today—wasn't launched until 1958. Simple, durable, and colorful, the LEGO brick design created that year was ideal for a child's toy. The plastic bricks are part of an interlocking system that has just the right amount of grip: The bricks hold together well but can be taken apart easily by a child. And consistency has been key. The bricks produced today can interlock with those produced back in 1958.

To bad the same cannot be said of the church.  Too often the diversity in the church, the body of Christ, brings about division.  Often, the pieces just don't seem to fit together well.  The older pieces want what they used to have, the old way, and the younger pieces want what is new, what has never been done before.  Too bad the pieces couldn't just come together and fit.

See, the amazing thing about LEGOS is not what each individual piece can do, but rather what happens when all the pieces come together.  When all the LEGO pieces are assembled together, the round pieces and the rectangular ones, the big blacks and small, all various colors and shapes, anything the creator can imagine can become reality.  This is also true of the church.  When we all come together, all various shapes, sizes and colors, we can become whatever the Creator wants us to be. His dreams and longings for us can be realized!

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment the best church your mind can conceive.  Now hear these words from 1 Corinthians 2:9: However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him".  God's plan for the church is greater than anything we have seen or can even imagine.  I don't know about you, but I sure would love to see some of that happen in churches across this land, in the Shenandoah District, in the Roanoke Valley and at Valley View Wesleyan Church!

So lets be like LEGOS, and just come together!  All ages, shapes, colors, and sizes...let's come together and build something GREAT!

By the way, the picture to the right is made up entirely of LEGOS.  Can't help but notice some empty seats.  I guess even LEGO churches have their challenges.

 

Learning to be a LEGO,

Art Good