The best gift I never got

I should preface by saying that my mother has eight children, so Christmas shopping can probably get a little overwhelming. It’s got to be hard to keep those lists straight. Anyhow, allow me to take you back in time. The year was 1994, and I was but a lowly 4th grader. I had the great fortune of knowing exactly what I wanted for Christmas that year. A Game Boy. It didn’t bother me that the word “boy” was in the name of the toy. It was clearly meant for me. When I would visit my cousin Tracy, I would often leave her upstairs to play with her dolls, while I played Mario Bros or Duck hunt with her little brother, Matto. In contrast, my sister, Kelli, loved to accompany Tracy around the neighborhood as they pushed their baby dolls in their toy strollers. To each his own, right? No, you’re right; it’s just lame. Anyway, while Kelli probably asked for glitter nail polish or a Minnie Mouse book, I had written “GAME BOY” out five times on my list and numbered it 1-5 in order of greatest need. I didn’t ask for anything else; I didn’t want anything else.
When Christmas morning rolled around, I excitedly approached the tree knowing the approximate size and shape of the package I was looking for. As we opened presents, one at a time, I remembered anticipating the great unveiling. When would I get my Game Boy? Surely it was just a matter of time. None of my presents looked the right size though, and each one I opened revealed another gift that was not on my Christmas list. Ah well, maybe next year.
Across the room I heard several of my siblings gasp. They moved around Kelli and pointed to the gift she had just opened. “What could be garnering her all of this attention?” I wondered. I moved toward her and suddenly realized what the hoopla was about. In her hand was a Game Boy -- my freakin’ Game Boy. And my parents had gotten her a Looney Tunes game to go along with it. How lame! Kelli may have liked Looney Tunes, but she didn’t even play video games! Had my parents really screwed up so monumentally? Did they not even know the difference between their own daughters? I was angry. “How could this be happening to me?” I wondered, “This isn’t what Christmas is all about.” In my mind, Christmas was about giving good gifts to the people that wanted them; to break it down to the simplest terms, me + gameboy = Christmas.
So that Christmas sucked. At the time, I didn’t even understand the error of my ways. But as I was driving to work one morning just a few months ago, it hit me. At 27 I can truly say that I am so glad my parents didn’t get me that blasted Game Boy. It is the best gift I never got. In that single moment, they communicated to me that neither the world, nor the Christmas holiday , nor my family revolved around li’l old me. I was not the center of the universe (as I had imagined). And, consequently, neither was the Game Boy. I learned that sometimes I will not get the things that I want, even if I desire that thing with my whole being. In fact, I may have to watch other people get something that I desperately want, when they didn’t even “wish” for it. That is a hard lesson to accept when you’re 10, but it is much harder if that lesson doesn’t come until you’re 20, 30, or 40. So thank you, Mom and thank you, Dad. You made Christmas 1994 miserable, and I am better for it.

Strange, strange world

I just recently read through "A Voice in the Wind" which chronicles the fictional story of Hadassah, a Jewish Christian in the early Roman Empire who is employed as a household slave. It was a captivating story, and the author had done a good deal of historical research in order to piece together an accurate depiction of 1st century Jerusalem, Rome, and Ephesus. However, I found myself a little unsettled by many of the cultural details that were included: temple prostitutes, convenience abortions, bloodythirsty arena crowds, drunken orgies, adultery, and "consenting" relations between men and young boys -- all are referred to within the text. While the author does not place undue emphasis on these unfortunate occurrences, they are nevertheless a present and pervasive part of the culture Hadassah lives in.

I read through a paragraph describing what a central character first encounters when entering the temple of Artemis. "Surely not,"I thought in response to the description of prostitutes provided by the temple to help "aid" in worship. Another character fears becoming pudgy and unattractive because of the child that is growing inside her -- she's thankful when a friend shows her the way to "freedom" -- through abortion.

When I finished this book last week, this Roman world seemed a million miles away. It's 2012; I'm living in Texas, and I can't imagine a blood thirsty mob shouting for women and children to be fed to lions for their own entertainment.

Right now, as I'm sitting at my computer, I still can't conceive of the lion bit, but my eyes are a bit more opened to some of the other realities around me: sexual sin, abortion, violence, etc.

Let me explain. I guess when you are hitting the 10 year high school graduation mark, you start to see a sudden rise in the divorce rate among your peers. Facebook makes it a really ugly process. By ugly I mean that it tells the world that you went from "Married to ______" to "no longer in a relationship with ______." And that's not even the complicated part. These dissolving relationships are followed by new, perplexing status developments. You've dumped your husband but now you have a new girlfriend; you love the new man in your life but- snap-the baby you are pregnant with isn't his, you can't stand the "brats" you gave birth to and wish someone would come take them from you... and the list goes on.

All of this is pretty overwhelming for me and my sheltered self to process. These people are so broken! Their world is falling apart! The lives of their children are just crumbling to pieces! Who the blazes is going to fix this mess?!

In Sunday School, you quickly learn as a kid that "Jesus" is the safest answer.
What is this Bible story about? Jesus
Who should we try to act like? Jesus
If you could meet any famous person, who would it be? Jesus

What I'm starting to realize is that this simple concept is weightier than I ever gave it credit for.

Because Jesus really is the answer; the only answer.

At the end of "The Voice in the Wind" the characters' lives are in shambles. They are miserable Epicureans who discover the very shallow waters of hedonism... except for Hadassah. She loves Jesus. This little slave girl is the only one that is actually free -- and she's fed to the lions. I know I just ruined the end of the story for you, but you should know what happens to her, because at the end of the book, she is possibly the only character you don't have pity for.