034: Family Time

March 21, 2010
Romans 5:1-11, Romans 7:14-25

One of my favorite parts about this road trip is getting to hang out with my cousins. I think I’m pretty spoiled to have an amazing family. My cousin Roberta is actually my Mom’s first cousin. She lives in the Central Valley with her husband, and I’ve been the joyful recipient of their warm hospitality several times. Her son and daughter are just a little older than me, and in the past four years or so I’ve been able to hang out with them a little.

Reid is, perhaps, the most sensitive, sweetheart of a guy I know. When my younger sister and I were heading home from a college scouting road trip to Cali, Reid opted to join us at the last minute to give us a break from driving and also to come spend time with our family during his Christmas vacation. He might be the best story teller I’ve ever met – I rarely laugh as much with anyone else. Last summer he married his college sweetheart, Lizzy, and this trip was the first time I got to meet her and get to know her a little. I’m looking forward to having them come up to visit our family for my sister’s wedding this summer.

Kelly has the exact same personality profile as me, which means I automatically love her because I feel like she just “gets” me easily, and vice versa. She’s a dynamic, fun, social butterfly, and I enjoy tapping her brain for wisdom from her own personal life experience. Since we’ve got similar outlooks and approaches to life, I find it helpful to get a heads up from her about some of the things she’s had to deal with as she’s gotten older, and vent some of my frustration with myself to someone who can understand this process of maturing and refining from my perspective. We had ridiculously late-night talks two of the three nights I was there.

Sometimes, as much fun as it is to visit my family and friends that I connect with and love that live far away, I have to struggle with myself to not become discontent in the fact that I can’t be with these people ALL the time. I wish I could. I wish there was some way I could make a city with all my favorite people in it, an have some sort of screening process so only people I knew I’d like would be able to come into the city an hang out with us.

Is that creepy or what?! On a massive level, when I step back and think about it, I find it disturbing. I’m really quite incredibly selfish and self-serving.

But then when I REALLY think about it, I realize I probably wouldn’t want that in all actuality. I’d get tired of all the same people.

You know what is amazing to me? Well, a lot of things, but first off, that God puts up with my selfish absorption enough to love me (and wack me upside the head sometimes) out of it… that God doesn’t get tired of humans altogether… that God is SOO, SOO, SOOOOOOO huge and big and vast and still pours His immeasurable love out on me, and that He won’t give up until He has perfected me. Now if only I could figure out how to make it happen faster, because sometimes I just get plain old tired of being me. What amazes you? Who amazes you?