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When you’re a celebrity In previous careers, I’ve had several brushes with fame – not so much the fortune. As the editor of a trade magazine, my thumbnail picture appeared in the first pages of every issue. In the days before social media, public relations go-getters would use this picture to stalk me in the aisles of trade shows, hoping to gain prominence for their clients’ products. When I visited developing African nations for CARE, children and marketplace vendors would call out to me, trying to gain the notice of the very obvious foreigner. A military entourage of a half-dozen soldiers had to escort me and my photographer on parts of my travel in Egypt. And I was greeted with great fanfare at the Kathmandu airport in May of 2003. Unlike the usual late-night arrival at a dimly lit airport of typical CARE trips, I landed in the morning to crowds of celebrating people, performing singers and dancers, and a lively band with unusual instruments. Beautiful, smiling ladies dressed in exotic Nepalese garb welcomed me with flower leis. It was awesome! Spoiler alert: it was the 50th anniversary of the first summiting of Mount Everest and this Jubilee celebration was for all the other people on my flight – former mountaineers who had been invited back to Nepal to celebrate their summiting achievement. These unexpected instances of celebrity were thankfully fleeting and often undeserved. Summiting Mount Everest is not on my bucket list – I get winded walking a low incline. I certainly don’t perform miracles. In most cases, I knew that people wanted something from me and that I was not the person they were expecting. These experiences were enough to convince me this is not attention I want. My few brushes with fame are nothing compared to what Jesus experienced regularly – people wanting him to heal, liberate, anoint and – in the case of Lazarus, save them from death. When he came into Jerusalem to cheering crowds, did he have similar feelings of unwanted attention – especially knowing how this was going to end? Knowing that the people clammoring for his attention would reject him as soon as they discovered he was not the Messiah they expected, he still prepared to sacrifice his life to redeem even the most undeserving of us. As we prepare to celebrate Palm Sunday and Holy Week, celebration will be followed by sacrifice. But we have assurance that in the end, there will be victory. Sometimes the savior we seek is not the savior we need. --Colleen Hart
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