Honestly, I was not trying to photobomb anyone. The doors to the Metra train whooshed apart, and I padded down the steps into a dense crowd.
I’ve ridden the train for three decades now, so I instantly knew upon exiting that something was going on. It was somebody’s big moment. Worthy of a photo or two. Or three. Flashes were firing and phones were clicking and there was laughter and a palpable excitement.
Me, I was just trying to walk toward my car and get home. I didn’t want to pry, so I snaked my way through the crowd and found an exit.
In retrospect, I'm thinking there’s little doubt I showed up in several of the pictures those folks snapped. I'm in the background, maybe half out of frame. Or blurry. Just a nameless section of wallpaper for somebody’s grand occasion.
Have you ever thought about the people that show up in the background of the pictures you take? To you, they are nameless, almost faceless. But every single one of them has a story—even as they “invade” your story.
Ponder with me the fact that you and I with our individual lives are definitely part of some kind of larger scene Jesus is directing. At His invitation, we play a small part of His story. But we are not the center of the action. He is. John had it right when he said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Just like a crowd scene wouldn’t be a crowd scene without lots of people, Jesus somehow has determined He wants us in the scene with Him. But we dare not ever take His invitation as an assignment to the leading role.
We are background. Jesus is foreground.
We are “extras.” He is the star.
He must increase but you and I really must decrease.
Anything else would be photobombing Jesus Himself!