If you ever have the chance to acquire some boys, do it, they really are quite a bargain. I have purchased two of them for myself and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. My oldest boy is named Joseph, the younger is Giovanni (aka Gio); they are a dynamic duo of laughter and challenge. It is a strange thing, if I was ever to take a Samurai sword and cut myself in two, I think out would pop Joseph and Gio. They contain the two sides of me.

Joseph is the quiet thinker who ponders life from a different angle. I have been accused of being strange and I never really understood why. But in my son I see it. When he was young, around 5, Joseph and I could play the Nintendo 64 game Banjo Kazooie for hours on end trying to figure out how to defeat the rotten witch on that video game. We didn’t have to say a word, but we knew exactly what the other was thinking. Eventually, we beat the game together, and let me tell you, spending time with him was and still is a great way to release the stress of the world. He still is my gamer: Chess, Stratego, Clue, Settlers of Cataan; you name it he will play it…and so will I.

Gio is the fiery communicator that loves competition and physical games of aggression. He also likes it when a little bit of blood is part of the deal. (I don’t know what it is about a bloody nose or lip, but it adds that extra bit of excitement to make a sport fun). I just introduced Rugby to him, and he is taking to it like fish to the water. It is weird, but he even likes the Ohio State fight song, especially the dotting of the “i” during the script Ohio. He is the son that asks questions, is interested in the quirkiness of relationships, that is frustrated at the brokenness of life. He likes to figure people out. Like me!

Let me tell you: I love these boys, and I would do anything for them!

But I have to be honest with you, “I don’t think I could ever let them die for you.” Oh, don’t get me wrong, I care about people, I really do, but not enough to let my boys die! These are my boys, my pride and joy, my image bearers – – how could I let them be destroyed for the mistakes of others? You would have to be crazy to think I would sacrifice these two amazing boys for rotten sinners?

Well God Did! God allowed the Son he loved, the one that looked and acted just like him, to die for us! That is crazy, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s crazy, crazy love as Francis Chan says. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who so ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  Think about that a second. We have lost the amazement of God’s heart toward us: He sent his Son and let him die…FOR ALL OF US!!!!!

I wouldn’t do it, but he did. I guess what I am trying to say is this: “If you ever think that God doesn’t care, that he sits far and away on a throne of chilly silence…THINK AGAIN!”

He let his Son die for you! Have a great day.