First Becomes Last

It's great to be able to get back into the swing of things. The air smells of springtime and the
dreams smell of lazy summer nights with the windows open. Oh yeah! This will be a good year!

I now have texting capabilities and I'm enjoying the WhatsUp app even though I don't know
half of what I'm doing. LOL! It's just good to have fun with people from other countries and
timezones without having to pay a thing. The first official text message I sent was to my
awesome sister, Mashi. I just have to remember those sleep times are different while she's
working the graveyard shift. :P

I watched Taxi Driver for the first time today and really liked it. It just has a great feel to it as a
movie. I liked the everyday items all throughout the movie such as the classic diners, neon signs,
and authentic atmosphere that the movie projects. It felt gritty and Catcher-and-the-rye ish.

The rest of the day was spent watching the new Green channel which has documentaries and
such all the time. There was tons of Jesus ones too....both the historical figure and the Christ
of Faith. One thing that has always stood out to me about Jesus is that he came from nothing to
be probably the most influential figure in the history of the world and we have nothing on him
but the accounts of others. It has to be the most remarkable story that has ever been told. I mean
that in a positive way of course. Why I say that you ask? Here is my reasoning:

* His father was a widower who was asked to take a wife drastically younger. Joseph had a
previous wife and other children.
* He finds out she is pregnant and freaks out about it. Wouldn't you? Can you blame him for
thinking Mary might have loved a man her own age? Joseph showed great trust in the Lord to
believe the angel Gabriel that his wife was faithful and then to be a father to a child that wasn't
his albiet divinely implanted. Guys have such a pride thing about children being theirs. This
shows great character of the man Joseph in my opinion.
*Jesus was both a popular and common name at the time. Another Jesus would later be turned
loose at the Passover during Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate years later. His name was Jesus Bar
Abbas (or Jesus Son of God in Hebrew). Those were confusing times. So many Jesuses.
*Joseph and Jesus were both handymen. Most people say carpenters but the word used actually
means workers of all kinds of crafts like stone masonry or other things. They were not specialized
artisans but were good enough to get by.
*They were Galileans and Judeans looked down on them as lower class or peasants.
*Jesus and his family lived in the "projects" or the area of developement for the poorer people.
It was a dangerous area of revolutionaries and shady individuals.

So, you see....everything about Jesus was average. No one could ever see what was coming. They
were looking for some military leader with a lineage that went back to the super soldier King David
or Joshua....and never thought to look for a quiet, articulate, and meek spokesperson for
non-violence and unconditional love. It's just proof that sometimes things are not always in the
packages that you'd expect.

-Thork