Have you ever been disappointed? Let down in a situation you thought you had a pretty good handle on? Have you ever been disappointed in someone who you thought you knew? At the least, have you ever incorrectly sized someone up and put them in the wrong box?
We have never routinely done homework or obsessed with our kids’ school assignments and tests. Long ago we told them, “We have a job and you have a job. School is your job. You know when things are due. You know when there are tests. Get ‘er done! And BTW, because we know you are fairly smart, get ‘er done good!” Our mandate was working. They were excelling! Life was good!! So you can sympathize with my break from reality the night Jake came to my bed, upset and crying!
“Jake, what’s wrong?”
OH MY POOR BABY
“I have a really big assignment due tomorrow and I didn’t do it.”
“Umm… What do you mean you didn’t do it? Was it just assigned?”
“No, I’ve known about it. It was assigned weeks ago.”
WHAT IS HAPPENING? THINGS ARE SPINNING.
“Umm… So you forgot about it?”
“No, I didn’t forget. I just didn’t do it.”
WHAT IN BLUE BLAZES? I’M GOING TO KILL HIM.
“Umm… So you knew you had a really big assignment due tomorrow all afternoon as you watched SpongeBob, ate five bowls of cereal, and tore up the house in a Nerf gun war?”
“Yes. I’m sorry!”
WHO ARE YOU??
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t quiet. It wasn’t my finest hour. But we got ‘er done. But seriously. Jacob Dean Krein! Really?! Who ARE you was what ricocheted like a cursed nerf gun dart through my mind as we did the big assignment due tomorrow. I thought I knew him! He was never supposed to be so irresponsible. So ridiculously careless! So… so untrustworthy! Who ARE you?
I’ve written before about the black heart I work with. On the one hand she’s got the four foot-something, adorable, spunky thing going for her. But sugar and spice and everything nice is not the box for this one! She’s more like Higgins’ Zeus and Apollo! If there’s something to be done, she did it yesterday. She is no-nonsense. (Oh, there most likely will be some sarcastically-fun nonsense on the way to no-nonsense, but IT’S ON!) She’s an attack dog with a sparkly collar! An outsider or newbie runs the risk of scratching their heads and asking who ARE you? (Ha! I still do from time to time!)
I only follow a few TV shows. They all have either the police or military finding and executing justice. So it makes sense one of my favorite Bible characters is David. Not the innocent little kid, little brother David. Or the shepherd of sweet fluffy lambs David. But the warrior David. The man who planned battles. Who fought with his men. The man who was up close and personal with death. Who killed the enemy in personal hand-to-hand combat. Yet this tough, hardened, military fighter, wrote songs with beautiful, soft words. This brave leader and fierce warrior penned lonely, fearful, broken words. Yet this man after God’s own heart murders one of his own! What in blue blazes? Who ARE you?
We do this with the Father and the Son. (Holy Spirit, you are beyond most of our comprehensions anyways, so for now you are still out of the box…at least my box.) But the Father and Son? We’ve sized them up. We’ve figured them out. They’ve been put in neat little boxes called “Who God is” and “Who is Jesus?” But what happens when our boxes are busted open and all those annoying, ugly packing peanuts spill out everywhere? It’s not pretty. It’s not quiet. Often, it is not our finest hour. God, you are supposed to be peace! Jesus, you are supposed to be sugar and spice! Y’all are supposed to be trustworthy!! Who ARE you?
Who ARE you? It’s a question we need to ask every day, but first we must let our boxes bust open! We must stop being upset and disillusioned by the annoying packing peanuts that spill out, no matter what shape or form they are in. They are only clues and pieces of the puzzle to this great question! We must forget about our sized-up assumptions and judgments. We must crack open that Good Book, for there we will start finding the answers. The First and The Last is never changing, but sometimes surprising. The Beginning and The End is always trustworthy and will never disappoint!
I believe even in eternity we will ask and study this great question of who God is. I’m looking forward to it. It will be our finest hours!