Passion Week and The Price is Right

“Amazing love how can it be that you my King would die for me?”

Bright lights. Cameras rolling. Producers shouting last minute instructions. The countdown begins: 10, 9, 8…and then…the familiar music fills the room, and the famous (or infamous) Bob Barker takes the stage. On the edge of our seats, my college girlfriends and I were giddy with excitement.

We’d made it!!!

Months of planning and finally, we were really there—live in the CBS television studio for the filming of The Price is Right. A week in Los Angeles for Spring Break culminated with the three of us camping out at CBS in hopes of getting a seat in the audience for the show. Our sleep deprivation paid off!

With so much to absorb and take in, I was far too busy and preoccupied to listen when the producers gave instruction for the audience—us, the prospective contestants. Something about where to stand, blah, blah, what to do, blah, blah, blah…I wasn’t listening.

Alas, I was the proverbial “deer in headlights” when low and behold the first name called was: MARIAN JORDAN…COME ON DOWN…YOU ARE THE FIRST CONTESTANT ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT!

Who?
Come on Down?
What?
Where?
(insert: blank stare, dumb blonde look, frozen limbs, and friends hitting and shaking me into action)

And…………..she’s up!

I can’t recall making it from my seat to the contestants’ row down front. I do know that I didn’t run screaming and waving my arms like I’ve seen other people do. I did more of a stumble forward, unsure that this is really happening to me kind of movement…all the while trying not to get bulldozed by the over-eager contestants now following close behind.

It’s all a haze.

Finally, I reached my station. But before I could catch my breath, Bob (as we contestants like to call him) presented the first item up for bid: a Maytag refrigerator. Since I was the first contestant it was up to me to start the bidding and give my estimation of the price of the refrigerator.
It’s all a such a blur…but my PRICE was RIGHT!! The next thing I remember, I’m on stage, kissing Bob Barker (on the cheek) and wondering “does the camera really adds ten pounds and if so did I wear the right jeans?” Once again, Marian is not listening as Bob gives me the instructions on how to play the game.

I’ll spare you the humiliation of the next 12 minutes. I was a train wreck. Clueless. I didn’t listen so I kept having to repeat the game until finally, only God knows how….I won! Yes, in spite of myself, I won the stinkin’ game and moved on to SPIN THAT WHEEL!!!

This is where my glorious brush with fame ends…at the wheel. I didn’t make it to the “showcase showdown,” but I did walk away that day with a new refrigerator, an all-expense paid trip to Boston, a recliner or as I like to call it a “Barker Lounger”, a lamp…and one fine story to tell.

That day—and a few days following—my excitement over winning was uncontainable. We rushed from the CBS studios to LAX airport to catch our flight home where I bumped into Robert Redford and I told him my exciting news. Then on the plane I thought the flight attendant and other passengers needed to know the news, and of course, the minute I could get to my phone I called everyone I knew (or had ever known) and told them about winning The Price is Right.

All of this fuss over a silly game show.

What’s funny to me is that, now, years later I rarely think about that experience. It’s interesting how quickly my excitement faded and the enthusiasm fizzled. Today, most of my friends have no idea that I was even on the show. It’s not something I talk about … it never comes up in conversation. Gone is the girl who couldn’t wait to tell complete strangers and random celebrities and was overflowing with excitement. Winning The Price is Right is just a blip in my memory.

This fading passion reminds me of the fizzle that happens in the hearts of many Christians over the miracle of their salvation. At first, there is an overwhelming flood of emotion and a desire to share the new found peace, hope, love and joy with others. Yet, over time, we can grow numb, cold and complacent. The emotional numbing leads to a lack of zeal for sharing the good news of Jesus with those whom we encounter.

I got to thinking about our fickle and fading emotions because this is “Passion Week.” Christians around the globe are celebrating the events that led up to Jesus’ death and resurrection for our redemption. We are supposed to be celebrating Jesus’ love, self-less determination, and willingness to lay down His life for our own.

But I can’t help but ask myself, “Are we really passionate about passion week?”
Do we really care?
Have we lost the fire that once burned so bright?

Friends, let us not grow cold. Let us not forget the most amazing event that has ever happened in human history. Let us not grow indifferent toward our salvation and cease sharing the amazing news: that God came to earth to redeem us from the grip of sin.

Far greater than hearing the call to “come on down” on a silly game show, the God of the Universe called us “out of darkness and into His marvelous Light.” Now, that’s something to be excited about.

So…wherever you are today, reading this on Facebook or my blog, please stop and pray with King David, “restore unto me the joy of your salvation!” It’s so easy to grow numb. But our passion quickly returns by taking an honest look at our sin and then looking at the wonderful cross of Jesus and singing … “AMAZING GRACE HOW SWEET THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME.”

Now that you remember what Jesus has redeemed you from...Go and Tell.
There is a lost world out there just dying to know.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses…
God made alive together with him,
Having forgiven us all our trespasses,
by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:13

I know that my Redeemer lives! Job 19:25