If I'm honest, my life, thus far, has been pretty posh. Maybe not according to your average Disney fantasy (there have been no mansions, glass slippers or special powers) but truly life has been abundantly good. Are they good because of an absolute definition of good? Are the good because compared to some, my life is extraordinary? Perhaps. But most significantly, I have decided they are good and the measuring stick I choose to use tells me so.
That measuring stick was created a long time ago, in a place where two lines meet. Around age ten or so, on the green pavement of an empty tennis court that saw more rain than play, I sat cross legged on the outside corner of the court. Northeast side, top right. I was in day three or four of a week long junior camp in the Santa Cruz mountains. Having been sent off on our own with Bibles and a notebook, I found an empty court with an open sky above.
For most, moments like these seem to come in the midst of a passionate call or an emotionally driven song. That had been true for most that week. I've never been that kind of kid though. Call it a spiritual gift of stubbornness but as soon as I sense someone pushing or pulling, I dig in and become immovable. Instead, I tend to experience my most vulnerable moments in places of solitude.
So, alone, I sat criss-cross apple sauce on the corner, facing into the court on a diagonal. I liked the look of how both knees made a triangle that was perfectly framed within the white lines. I pulled open my Bible, the one I had been given in 5th grade by the ladies of my church, and began to read. I'm not sure what I read that day. Perhaps I opened up the book to the middle, as I often did, and put my finger down. If you've ever done this before, then you know I was likely in the book of Psalms. Or maybe they gave us an assignment . . . I don't rightly recall because the part of the day that's burned in my memory and my existence following overshadowed all else.
I suddenly became more aware of Him. More aware of His love, His leading and His presence. In that moment, I could see myself from above, a little blond kid sitting in the corner of a tennis court. And I felt that I could see the way He sees - both from above and from within. And though I had known Him all along, it was in this moment that I decided He would be in charge of me. I was His and His alone. No longer in charge, which was and is one of my favorite things to be, I prayed, "You get to choose and from this day forward and I will follow."
You, dear reader, may think this madness. Everyone I knew thought so. But, something happened that day where two lines meet, and that corner became the marker of a change of direction, of life, of purpose, of hope and of love. And since then, things have been very good.
