| | Late in the winter of 2002 I became a law school drop out. Upon withdrawal from law school, I supported myself by greeting people at the front desk of a health club. This was an interesting job...for numerous reasons, but mostly because of the people; the plastic barbies, the dumb-ox weight-lifters, the age-defiant, and the tennis snobs. There was this guy who would always take two plastic cups of beer to go. There was another guy who had recently been divorced, his wife had left him for another man. His name was Big Jim, at least that's what he had me call him. He loved the new stand-up tanning machines. He was a painfully open man. He wore his heart and his pain on his hairy arm (he always wore sleeveless shirts). Big Jim was one of the only guys that would come into the health club that I trusted. He was honest, no matter what that meant.
While working there we began selling hats and shirts that bore the slogan "Life is Good" and everyone walked around like it was their own personal slogan. Everyone, that is, except Big Jim and this angry, drunk of a tennis pro...but that's another story for another time. And I appreciated that about Jim. He was connected to life. His life was utter crap, but he was connected to it. I'm not sure if it is wealth that blinds or just shear will, but we, like the health club zombies, refuse to connect with life.
At this point in my rant, I must say that there are times when "Life is Good"... all glory to God for whatever is good comes from Him. But there are times when life sucks. And unless we embrace that as part of life, we cannot be fully connected to life or God for that matter. Let this be a herald to people everywhere..."Life Sucks"...at times...and it's okay...you don't have to hide it...we all know it...even if, for the sake of faith, we won't admit it. Paul understood that hard times, times when life sucked could be celebrated. These times are wonderful opportunities to grow closer in spirit and in deed to the highly-suffered Redeemer of Creation. Even so, we cannot deny that at times life sucks. In denying this, by walking around like a health club zombie, like everything is just fine all of the time, we deny the very grace of Jesus.
All of this to say that right now...for me...life sucks. Bring on the growth.
And I apologize to those around me (A) for the times when I refuse to take my medicine and, like an infant, spit it at them instead. |
| | Posted 6/10/2006 1:37 AM - 3 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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