Remember It All
Choosing What Story to Tell
Tuesday Morning. 9:38am. Sitting at a metal table, under a yellow umbrella, big blue blanket of California sky up above.
As I sit here, looking back on these past couple weeks, my mind wanders and wonders. A couple months from now, what will I remember…
The sharpies on the hardwood, couches, and tables? Our children’s endless stomach bugs and, in turn, countless loads of laundry? The minivan going into the shop? The Macbook Pro getting it’s first taste of cold milk? The sheer volume of homework and reading and writing? The aches and hurts and tiredness of a thyroid gone rogue? Dad and Abe going to church on their own because the twins still felt sick? The impossible inability to just get in a rhythm and roll?
But that’s only half of the story. And if we only remember the chaos of conflict, we renounce the rescue of redemption.
As we look back on these past couple weeks a couple months from now, I’m hoping this is what we’ll remember…
Abe playing with Anthony. A spontaneous coffee drinking party with the neighbors and their entire extended family at 6pm on a Wednesday. A friend to sit next to in a couple classes. A pastor with a sweet, shepherding heart. A couple of couples at church. A kind soul at the Apple store that broke all the rules to take my computer apart and clean it for me. A playdate for Amy and the kids with another mom and her son. A last minute, crazy cheap ticket to the 2nd greatest baseball game of my life. Ice cream from Carmela. Strong, encouraging affirmation on my first paper. A sweet email from a groom-to-be sharing the story of how he met his bride-to-be. A date night downtown for me and the missus courtesy of Jeanne and David. Another sweet dinner with Matt and Lauren. More ice cream from Carmela. A text from a friend. And another. A lighter heart this morning. And that big blue blanket of California sky up above.
As I’m rolling in the wind and waves of all that is new out here — all that’s sweet, all that stirs, all that shakes and shapes— I have a choice to make. What will I remember? And how will I remember it all? As hurt? As hope?
Chaos? Rescue? Conflict? Redemption?
The answer. I think. Is yes. yes. yes. yes. Remember it all.
My New Testament professor recently said something so simple I surely should have thought it before. But the weight hit like a brick:
As we were looking at the story of exile of the Israelites in the Old Testament, this brutal time of God’s people wandering as far from him as they’d ever been, my professor said something along the lines of:
It’s important to remember, the Israelites were the ones documenting this story. Every detail. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Their own arrogance and adultery. Their own brokenness and bondage. All to teach this to generations to come:
Stay in the arms of God. And give Him glory in the rescue and redemption.
The diapers and the dead computer. The ice cream and the coffee.
All of it. All this brain can contain. Remember it all.
And write it down. Every word.
Right here. Under this yellow umbrella, big blue blanket of California sky up above.
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