Monday, April 5, 2010

Brotherly Love


This picture personifies how most days unfold when our two children are together...Bryce, acting as though nothing is wrong...MaKenna, struggling to keep her composure. I love MaKenna. She is beautiful, all girl and is a fan of her dad (at least that is what I tell myself...I know she prefers her mother). MaKenna wants to know what is for supper when we finish breakfast, she wants to paint her toenails and fingernails and do all the things little girls do at this age. I love our daughter. She brings home notes from boys (I have promised to eliminate from exsistance) who are interested in "being hers forever" in the second grade. A recent note she received from a classmate read, "C+M = yes or no". MaKenna doesn't like "C", so we dodged the bullet on this one. I get so irate thinking of my second grade daughter having a "boyfriend". Then again, who am I to say that is too early...she has an aunt that was practically married by the second grade. I love MaKenna. The next twenty years should be fun.

Then we have Bryce. I remember growing up in the wheat field shooting bb guns at people. Goggles? Are you serious? It was short sleaves, shorts, a bb gun and plenty of bullets. Man, those were good times. Today we have airsoft guns. Soft being the key word. Plastic bb's with minimal air pressure are the norm today. So, we are counting on Bryce to be the enforcer. When MaKenna starts dating, I'm going to supply Bryce with all the ammo he needs!
Bryce takes care of his sister. I understand there are times when the kids are at each other's throat for several days in a row, but ultimately their relationship is a good one. If Jacob and Esau had a relationship like that...we would miss one of the greatest bible stories of all time.
"Jacob the Hill Grabber", "Jacob the Deceiver", Jacob the Con-Artist" - pick your favorite...all of them are wonderful names for a wrestler. Here's a man who deceives his brother and tricks his dad so he can pad his 401K. Genesis 32 - I love that it takes a wrestling match of epic proportions to get his head on straight. Here's a guy that works seven years to marry his beautiful cousin Rachel, wakes up after his honemoon night and finds himself lying with his ugly cousin Pheona the Ogre (Leah), works seven more years to marry Rachel a second time and then enjoys an evening wrestling with God. Jacob...what a joke. Scared to meet his brother Esau...God puts a Holy Suplex on him! A smackdown for the ages. By daylight...Jacob is looking for tennis balls to put on his walker! He gets a walker for the hip job God put on him and a new name. Of course, with a new name come a new sense of purpose and meaning in life. Once again, God has changed this low-life into a somebody!
Bryce vs. MaKenna or Jacob vs. Esau...brothers and sisters are made to love and evidently destined to fight, but when it comes to you vs. God...why not work it out in a ring! Considering the amount of hip surgeries Amy Trent Reiter Lomax (another great wrestling name) had...she must have wrestled with God frequently. She too was extraordinary. Take your problems, your faults, your temptations and place them in the ring with God. Obviously...God will win every time...isn't that the point of each of our lives? Until next time.