Boxing Day Testimony
I wrote this a couple of months ago, but a good conversation with my roommate reminded me of it, and I thought I’d reblog it here so it’s not forever lost amidst the thousands of Star Wars gifs and silly animal pictures that make up 99% of my Tumblr blog.
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26 December, 2010
On this very special Boxing Day, I’m compelled to think back on the halcyon days of our forefathers – boxers, most of them – who dedicated their lives to boxing things up in boxes and setting their dogs – boxers, likely – to guard them while they took brief, joyous breaks to box one another in small black box theatres…
Okay, so I don’t know what boxing day is. Let’s talk about Jesus.
I like Jesus. He is the best. He has always been my best and most reliable friend, and I’ve really come to appreciate that stupendous fact over the last 5ish years. He has had my back at every dodgy or threatening juncture and, perhaps most valuable of all to me, He’s been the epitome of a good example – the purest and most practically principled pattern to follow in my quest to be a Good Guy.
So here I am taking this appropriate opportunity to put it down in black-and-white digital notation that I really love Him. I know He is alive. He’s a real person, with a body not so materially unlike mine, just eternally upgraded. He went through all the same steps that I have to – that anyone has ever had to – and more. Anything I could ever want to do or will need to do, He has already done and done perfectly – and if I’ll shut up and get over myself for five seconds and ask Him for a little help, He’ll give it to me.
Our Heavenly Father is real, too. He’s really our Father. He’s my father, he’s Jesus’ father, he’s your father. We (out of some doctrinal and cultural pragmatism) spend a lot of time identifying Jesus as the Father’s Son, but I tend to find more comfort and hope in reminding myself that I’m a son of God, too, and that Jesus might be most accurately identified as our perfect older brother. There’s less intimidating distance when I think of it that way– not so much perfect God and perfect Christ tag-teaming to lord over the rest of us and make us feel hopelessly miniony, but rather like a FAMILY. God has got it all. He understands everything. He knows everyone. He can do anything. And Jesus, being an on-top-of-it sort of eldest son, is right there at his heels, not even a step behind. And that means that any lag or gap between the rest of us and our Older Brother is catch-up-able. That’s challenging, yes, but not really intimidating. It’s hopeful, and I’m pretty sure that’s the Point of the gospel.
So I’m glad that Jesus did all that He did and does all that He does. I’ve only a very limited and eternally immature conception of just what all that is or could be, but I know a few key nuggets of awesome truth and they have kept me alive; they will keep me going through all the crazy crap that will inevitably go down in my eternal lifetime and they will permit me to scramble to the top every time, where I can see the sunshine and survey the coolness of the wide world. That’s what Truth’ll do for you if you cling to it. I will cling to it. I thank God for it.
Amen.
P.S. Also, I am thankful for Star Wars. I’m convinced I’ll be able to build a working lightsaber in Heaven, and I’ll admit that’s a pretty huge motivation for me, too.
