Friday, 6 December: 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3
At some time, most, if not all of, my generation endured being the bitter indignity of being the last guy chosen for a recess pickup game of kick-ball. There we stood, staring at the scuffed toes of our “Chucks,” waiting and hoping not to be last. Sooner or later it happened. We were the last guy. It was a painful humiliation. But, it did make me work harder to get better, and in an odd by-product, made me more aware of the need to create a feeling of teamwork. But none of us “last guys” ever forget that painful moment, a grim rite of passage. Oddly, God chose Abram as the conduit of His blessing. He chose to use an older, childless, itinerant, sheepherder hailing from Ur as His tool of choice. Abram was not perfect, a fact I find comforting. In fact, he struggled repeatedly with lying or more accurately dissembling. He was flawed and still, God chose him. Advent reminds me that God has a soft spot for the unlikely, the odd man out, those others ignored. God chooses for His own purposes the ones that others pass over.
At some time, most, if not all of, my generation endured being the bitter indignity of being the last guy chosen for a recess pickup game of kick-ball. There we stood, staring at the scuffed toes of our “Chucks,” waiting and hoping not to be last. Sooner or later it happened. We were the last guy. It was a painful humiliation. But, it did make me work harder to get better, and in an odd by-product, made me more aware of the need to create a feeling of teamwork. But none of us “last guys” ever forget that painful moment, a grim rite of passage. Oddly, God chose Abram as the conduit of His blessing. He chose to use an older, childless, itinerant, sheepherder hailing from Ur as His tool of choice. Abram was not perfect, a fact I find comforting. In fact, he struggled repeatedly with lying or more accurately dissembling. He was flawed and still, God chose him. Advent reminds me that God has a soft spot for the unlikely, the odd man out, those others ignored. God chooses for His own purposes the ones that others pass over.
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