Photographer: smohundro of flickr under CC2.0, and this is released under a similar CC3.0 license.

Based on a true story

Sometimes I wonder if bloggers make up scenarios to put on their blogs. I see the blogging platform more as a type of memoir than a strict biography, unless the author represents it as such. (Although, if you're wondering, I really do have TS, I really did almost get run over (twice), and today's comic really happened as stated.)

Parables make it easy to miss the point sometimes

It's not particularly profound, but I think it's important. When we look for stuff, we're looking because we need something. Even with the shepherd metaphor that we use so much, I'd imagine that the guy wasn't altogether altruistic. Wouldn't he lose his job or get a pay cut or something if he just let sheep wander off? These are parables, to show us what God is like...but different. It reminds me of when the kids and Puddleglum were trying to convince the witch (and to an extent, themselves) about the world outside the cave: Aslan - he's a lion,which is a cat, but not a cat; it's bigger! And totally not like a cat at all...

Good News

God didn't need us. And yet he searches for us, and earnestly- like when you need that last quarter so you can do that final load of laundry. But even though He didn't need us (we're worthless, really), He considers us much more important than a quarter. Much more than a sparrow or a lily, even. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. He has given us eternal life, and that life is in His Son. This can't be described as anything but good news!

Humility

Now, this isn't the time to get self-congratulatory. We're unspeakably blessed, but we're not particularly special. Not in and of ourselves. There is no room to boast: of works, of faith, or of being "chosen." This is no time to stand in the temple and thank God that I'm not a thief or a swindler...or a Pharisee.

The whole redemption situation is quite shameful, really. The cross is a horrible, twisted place- a testament to our utter failure at the self-sufficiency we so much clamor for. But it's also where we find our glory.