07.02.14 

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. - John 1:3-5 NKJV. 

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. - John 5:24 NKJV. 

But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. - John 5:40 NKJV. 

Danielle Davis is living a make believe life with celebrity, Bradley Cooper. Danielle is 39-years-old married with two children, and she is living her make believe life by taking a life-size cutout of Cooper with her everywhere she goes. Danielle takes the cutout of Cooper with her when she goes shopping, when cooking, just about everywhere! Danielle says, “I picked Bradley Cooper because I went to college with him for one year and we were in a play together, so I've watched his career from the get-go. My kids think it’s fun but get a little impatient with it sometimes, especially if they think I’m not doing something they want me to do. Then they’re like ‘It’s Bradley Cooper this and Bradley Cooper that!’ My daughter is young enough to not realize it might be embarrassing – I even took him to her school. My son would be mortified if I did that to him!” The motive for all of this craziness may be the promotion of a future book and her Instagram account reportedly now has 10,000 followers. (Today.com; MailOnline; and other news venues 07.02.14) 

Let’s see, if I began carrying around a cardboard cutout of a movie actress everywhere I went, posting photos of the two of us on my facebook profile…what would happen? I think there would likely be an involuntary commitment for a mental evaluation in my future! You have to wonder if the cardboard cutout is one step short of actually stalking the actor. It does seem a little creepy, well maybe a lot creepy! There is a movie about a man who lives with a life size doll (Lars and the Real Girl - not a celebrity though) and he takes her everywhere with him.

If someone were actually trying to live an alternate life through a cardboard cutout or life-size doll, it would be indicative of a life that they want to have in reality. Maybe Danielle Davis really would like to be the wife of Bradley Cooper and thinks, fantasizes continually about what that life would be like. The man in the movie with the life-size doll, appeared to want to have a wife and family, and instead settled for life with a doll.  

What kind of life have you settled for? You may not carry around a cardboard cutout of a movie star or a life-size doll, but are you living a life without real meaning, without real purpose, and without experiencing real life? Jesus came that we might have real life (John 10:10b), life with meaning and purpose. How do we have real life? Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 NKJV, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Jesus tells the woman at the well, and us, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13-14 NKJV).” If you are willing (John 5:40; John 5:24), Jesus can give you real life.