Recollection

It’s cool how the small things cause you to remember stuff from your past – both good and, well, not-so-good.

In my new role as a foster father (not-soon-enough adoptive father!), the other day, Sam & I were cleaning up the side of the house and we were “team sweeping” the leaves and stuff – me sweeping, him using the dust pan.  He was having a tough time getting all the stuff in the dust pan and I recalled how my dad taught me the “sweep, back up the pan, and repeat” process for getting all the stuff picked up.  So, naturally, I imparted my well-honed “sweeping” knowledge to him…

Pretty cool – and not so painful.  I’m sure, in the course of our lives together, I’ll have ample opportunity to share and teach Sam about the not-so-good or hard lessons I’ve learned…

I was reading in Colossians yesterday and these two verses from chapter two popped out:

⁹For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

My mind immediately imagined Paul writing these verses (and really the whole 6-23 passage).  I imagined him recalling what we read in Acts:

And Saul [now Paul] was there, giving approval to his [Stephen’s] death.  On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Acts 9:1-2

I imagined him recalling and pondering the pain he caused, the dramatic change Jesus had made in his life, and how he was now using the lessons and examples from his life (both past and present) for God’s glory.  I’m sure he didn’t disguise his past – he couldn’t…people knew it.  Simply put: He didn’t let his “past” stop or inhibit him (as we often do).  He used all his life experiences so, as he writes in 1 Corinthians nine, “that by all possible means I might save some.”

I guess this passage just hit me because it’s pretty easy to share the “good” stuff with others – certainly our kids.  Sometimes, it’s the “not-so-good” stuff that can be just as profitable and actually makes us real and genuine.

I guess that’s sort of the theme of the whole “freedom” passage anyway!