In sharing these Bob Goff words, I hope your rapidly approaching Christmas will look as different this year as mine now looks. Because suddenly, I'll be unable to look at the inevitable images of the baby in the manger without picturing that baby arriving via parachute!
Too often I think we pick the story of Jesus up right at what we think is the beginning. That baby in a manger. But Goff got me wondering about the conversations that happened between father and son before the manger - before the jump. I mean, did God say, "son, come sit down, I want to run an idea by you..." Did God make it clear to Jesus what he was getting in to? Did he let him know, sure, your story will start with everyone celebrating the beautiful baby in a manger, but it will end with you hanging on a cross - people mocking you and spitting on you - nails in your hands and feet? I think they did have that conversation. I think they had it because God wants us to remember each and every day that Jesus came to earth not on an assignment, but because He said yes to God's idea. He said yes when God offered him the ultimate chance to model love. I think some days we sit around waiting for an assignment from God and our chance to model love. When in reality, he's already run the idea by us. He's already asked us the question. He's already asked us, are you willing to jump out of your comfort today into someone else's discomfort to model love? He's already asked us, are you willing to part with our own well-being to insure someone else's being is well? He's already asked us, are you willing to show today that you value the lives of others more than you value you own life? You get the picture that when God asked Jesus those questions, Jesus jumped up from their chat, grabbed his parachute and jumped. You can almost hear a fading "I'll be back later" as he descended through the sky out of heaven and landed in a lowly manger. I think today, God's just waiting on our answer. He's waiting on us to jump. He's waiting on us to jump out of our comfort into the discomfort of others. Yes. He just wants to watch and hear us say yes. And so do a lot of people in the world around us.
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Robert "Keith" CartwrightI am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race. Archives
February 2025
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