Jesus & Me

I was thinking about myself yesterday. That's normally not good when that happens. It gets me to wondering how God could put up with me. I really was thinking about this yesterday evening. God is holy- and I would not be able to stand for a second in his presence. I am embarrassed to admit this, but there are days when I don't offer up ONE prayer to God. I can think all day about our church and our people without whispering a prayer to God on their behalf. There are people who don't know God who offer up more prayers than me! If I just got a glimpse of Him, His glory would consume me on the spot!

BUT

This morning I have been thinking about Jesus. That's always a good thing.
- I wonder if, while laying in His manger, He looked beyond the adoring (and scared!) face of Mary and saw the stars and the constellations that He made and He named.
- I wonder about what He was like when he was a child. I wonder what His conversations with God were like when He was 4 years old. I wonder how much Mary and Joseph must have laughed at their little bundle of joy and energy behind closed doors at their house when he was a little guy.
- I wonder what kind of sense of humor He had. Did he have a hard time not laughing when someone broke wind?
- I wonder who his best friends were when he was a teenager and if they ever thought he was "a little odd." I wonder if there was a point when they decided not to like Him. Or if their parents warned their kids to stay away from Jesus- He was too dangerous.
- I wonder what Jesus thought about when He laid down at night and drifted off to sleep. I wonder what He dreamed about. Did He have nightmares about His future? I wonder if He dreamed about Heaven.
- I think about how it must have been obvious that He had so much love in His heart when he hung out with his buddies. I wonder how Jesus would have responded and how his body language must have changed when his buddies would sin (against Him!).
- I wonder how teenagers today could live like the teenager that Jesus was.
- I wonder how often Jesus specifically told people "I love you." Did He start exchanging those words with "God loves you"?
- I wonder how old Jesus was when people who were staring Him in the face started wondering "Is that man, or is that God talking?" Was He a 15 year-old causing people behind closed doors to ask "Seriously, who is that kid?"?
- I wonder if Jesus would have ever hung out with me. I wonder, had I been alive then, if I would have wanted to hang out with Him.
- I wonder if there were certain children who knew Jesus well and saw Him as kind of their "God-father." I am not trying to be funny. I am serious. I wonder if they ran to Him when they would see Him. I wonder if they ever tackled Him with big hugs or covered his eyes from behind and played the "Guess who?" game. And I wonder if He always got it right. I wonder if those same kids understood what happened to Jesus when He was suddenly gone. Mere babes trying to figure out where Jesus went... And I wonder how their moms and dads tried to explain to their children why Jesus was arrested and "went to heaven." I wonder what they thought when they gathered with Him the day that He ascended back into Heaven.
- I wonder if there were any who followed Jesus from a distance who decided that He was not legit. I wonder if they second-guessed themselves even when they were old, gray, and wrinkly.
- I wonder if the blind man who received the gift of sight followed Jesus long enough to lay his eyes on the mangled body of Jesus.
- I wonder if I would have cared about the same things as I do today had I walked with Him on this earth.
- I wonder where I would go in this life if I spoke with Him non-stop and walked with Him every day. I wonder where, just me following Him, would take me. Would I move to Turkey? Would I fall in love with the people in Mexico? Or Indonesia? Or would I make people mad at our church? Would they want to hear what I had to say?
-I wonder what I would spend my money on if He were physically present with me every moment of the day?

He changes the way I think about myself. I begin to think less of me and more of Him. He changes the way I think about God.
When your heart beats faster when you think of Jesus, that means something. Mine did this morning. This is what it means to truly be alive.

once dead.
now alive.
once blind.
now seeing.
once grasping.
soon touching.
I can't wait to see Jesus.