Happy Birthday to My Brother

Today is my little brother's birthday. No one actually thinks he's younger -- based on all of his gray hair and sage-like wisdom -- but I am, in fact, 4 years and 2 days older than him and have got a mental scrapbook full of great memories of him. 

I remember "roughhousing" and playing violent games of tackle football meets rugby in our living room as kids. I remember eating fast so I could be sure to get the second helping or last serving of breakfast or dinner. I remember one time when we decided to play a trick on Mom by throwing all of the towels, wash cloths, and hand towels into the bathtub with us. (For the record, this was the dumbest decision we ever made as kids -- no dinner for us and an inordinate amount of work for an already overworked and under-appreciated single mom.) I remember watching in wonder as he could hit a whiffle ball as far as I could with that big red plastic bat in my grandpa's front yard. I remember the first time he beat me in a fight; that was the day I decided we would make much better friends than enemies.

But I don't want to celebrate the past. The guy my brother has become far outshines the guy he was growing up. I figured as a teenager that he'd either be a pro ballplayer or a truck driver. He's long-since flown by that career trajectory. And character trajectory.

Jason and Katie and Hunter are God's grace in our lives. One of a million ways we see and experience God's grace. 

• God has used Jason in my life to remind me that the way things are is not the way they will forever be, that we can laugh in the face of brokenness because we know that pain never gets the last word
• God has used Jason in my life to remind me to see the best in others, hope for the best in others, and to work to bring out the best in others
• God has used Jason in my life to teach me that cheering for others' success and seeing others flourish says a ton about how much I love them; if I am jealous or petty when others do well, then I really was only in love with myself and what another person could do for me. Love is completely uninhibited and is compelled to celebrate when someone we love wins or gets 
• God has used Jason in my life to show me that we have much more to laugh about or share a bottle of Coke or a Krispy Kreme doughnut over than we do to cry about
• God taught me scores of life and faith lessons through the wisdom of a man named Jon Randles, but he's taught me from Jason and Katie what it looks like for that wisdom to be lived out in day to day life
• God has used Jason and Katie to show me that God is the Potter, people are clay, and that the Potter is constantly molding us and shaping us and using experiences, relationships, scripture, and others' wisdom to do so; if we don't feel the touch of the Potter or the discomfort, at times, of his shaping us, then maybe we should examine whether or not his hand is on our lives or if we've moved off the potter's wheel
• God has used Jason to teach me that we need to cry more freely and genuinely than we do, that tears don't show weakness but compassion, love, strength, humility and other characteristics of the heart of God
• God has used Katie, our sister in-law for over 11 years now, to help us see grace and goodness in simple pleasures like the right flavor of Blow Pops, a good blanket, and YouTube videos of others humiliating themselves
• God has used Hunter, my soon-to-be three year-old nephew, to teach me that resilience and a can-do attitude can unhinge any closet door, relocate any pack and play, and do many other challenging tasks when we put our minds to it
• Hunter has also been grace to us with his big hugs and generous tender heart; the world would be better if we were all so unreserved in our affection toward those we love
• God has used Jason and Katie to teach me that character, principle, integrity, love for God and people, and especially hospitality are worth sacrificing for and fighting for; they only ever serve the finest of food when you come over to their house because even the meals they prepare say a ton about who they are and what people and relationships mean to them
• God has used Jason to teach me what Jesus was like in his storytelling. Whether its a lesson from building a counter top to a story about a baseball game, there's always a greater story, the greatest Story, in the stories he tells; I hope I can come to live with eyes so wide open

So here's to my brother Jason on his 34th birthday. My prayer is that the next 366 days are as good to him as he is to others and that God will give him more good moments, laughs, surprises than he has hairs on his back.