(Above: my groomsmen. One of my favorite pictures ever with most of my favorite people ever)After some research, and my mom making a mortal enemy with a guy at Dick's Sporting Goods, we got a great kayak for dirt cheap to surprise my dad at Christmas. He had been wanting one for a long time and when all the presents had been opened at my parents house we looked at him and said "your last present is in the garage" to which he replied in unbelieving seriousness "is it really?" Walking to the garage in wonder, I imagine him wracking his brain for what it might be. Is it possible to awe a man with a gift who has himself purchased items such as the Wild Thing (a neon pink chainsaw that I sometimes use while screaming the oldie tune as if it were my own theme song, imagining the glory of Ricky Vaughn entering a rocking Indians stadium from the bull pen)? When he finally laid eyes on it he stared in disbelief, like a final box hidden behind an old chair with the exact likeness of a Red Rider bee bee gun. As he moved in closer he fidgeted with the features and smiled in child-likeness. Later he held back tears saying that he felt like a little kid again.
It's so good to feel like a kid; to feel taken care of. You don't realize until you're out of your parents' home how little you have ever taken care of yourself before. It's not until, in the midst of striving to succeed and still failing we realize how little we still take care of ourselves. The truth is, from my experience, all of us believe we are way more awesome than we actually are. I've recently been taken back to the memory that I do not have sufficient supplies to make it on my own. I cannot take credit for my home, food, clothes, job (yes, I just started working a job that I absolutely love!) friends, family, wife, health, thoughts, and even every breath. It is, for this very reason that I believe in, not only a God, but Jesus as God.
The holidays make you wish that everyone in the world, with whatever belief they have, could bind together and just try to love each other. Sounds awesome right? I would be "in", and have temporarily thought at times "why doesn't everyone do this?" Then I remember why: we live in a fallen world, people are selfish, and we do not possess self-sustaining love. The reason I am a Christian is that every other world belief (besides Judaism, which is a whole different blog post) says that if we just try harder, or could just balance our lives a little better, then we would be able to love well. Well, our personal and world history continue to prove that our trying and balancing are not enough. Scripture, in fact, says that we are all completely hopeless and need someone to save us from ourselves. That's why Jesus funneled Himself into a baby and lived a perfect life and then sacrificed Himself on the Cross...so when we believe the gospel we take on His awesomeness. Not only does this mean that God looks at believers and sees His Son (which it does, guaranteeing us Heaven) but it also means that those who believe in Jesus have Him living inside them AKA the Holy Spirit. It's kind of like in the Matrix where Morpheous offers Neo the Red pill or the Blue pill; once you take the Red pill there is no turning back, but you only explore deeper into the rabbit hole. Jesus' homey John Mark wrote in Mark 4:27 that it's like you swallowed a seed and "night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how." If you want to have life and love come out of you here is how: swallow the seed that is Jesus and let Him grow inside you. When I first saw Jesus as that unbelievable Christmas gift that was just for me I tore that package open and He has lived inside of me ever since, spurring me to love Him back. Booya! Isn't it awesome?! Wanna feel like a kid again? feel taken care of? feel alive? free? have goodness flow out of you that you know isn't of you? Open the gift with genuine belief in Jesus
Food - white chocolate Ritz cracker cookies
Song - Sarah Groves - Different Kinds of Happy
Fact - Radioactive decay on earth drives the convection of liquid iron surrounding earth's core, creating dynamo, which generates our magnetic field, which protects the atmosphere from radiation and solar winds
