Awesome!

Did you know that today, March 10th, is (was) the International Day of Awesomeness? Isn’t that awesome! Check it out at http://dayofawesomeness.com/ and then come back and read on.

If you read the first page of the website, you would see that the day really has a comical side to it. But still, it also is the straw that broke the camel's back for me in terms of the use of the word itself. Unfortunately, the word awesome must now be entered onto the official list of words whose actual meaning has been dumbed-down, changed, ruined and otherwise rendered unrecognizable because we decided the original definition wasn’t good enough for us.

Awesome! I just got Halo 3. That football game was awesome! If you were to ask someone what the word awesome means, they would tell you that awesome means cool, exciting, or amazing. But the real definition of awesome is an adjective describing awe. Now what is awe?

Awe (noun) - an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like: in awe of God.

Can that definition ever accurately be applied to a sport, a video game, a steak, a TV show, a job, a car, a vacation, a joke, a new computer, my blog, etc?

Think about how awesome God is. Have you ever looked at the night sky in a really dark place? Have you seen one of those science shows showing the process of human conception and development in the womb? Think about God’s plan of redemption? This only scratches the surface.

Our lives are full of all kinds of exciting games, delicious food, entertaining TV shows, interesting jobs, cool cars, fun vacations, funny jokes, fast computers and intellectually stimulating blogs. I for one plan on doing my best to keep the word awesome restricted to describe those things that inspire awe.

What's The Difference?

The people I work with all know I’m a Christian and I do my best to show them exactly what being a Christian is. The opinions vary. One person I work with always challenges me in various ways, mostly concerning science and evolution. Recently he posed a new challenge; one concerning right and wrong.

This person’s opinion is that since us Christians have all the answers we must also have a “holier than thou” attitude. In reality I can see how he could get that opinion with the way some Christians act. Anyway, my friend came to me and asked my opinion on something that had happened to him over the weekend. He had gone to the Home Depot and paid for his items with his debit card. As he was leaving the store a clerk ran up to him and said “Sir. You forgot your change.” The clerk was holding $50 in cash. My friend said that he knew he didn’t select to receive any cash back and he knew that the money wasn’t his, but he took it anyway. Here is how the conversation went (I’ll call my friend “Rod”):

Rod: So, would you have taken the money?

Ed: No I wouldn’t have. If I looked at my receipt and saw that I didn’t accidentally choose cash back, then I would not have taken it. That’s stealing.

Rod: Do you know how much those stores make in a single day? $50 isn’t going to ruin their business.

Ed: That doesn’t matter. It’s still wrong.

Rod: Oh like you’ve never stolen. Have you ever taken money that wasn’t yours?

Ed: Yes.

Rod: So what’s the difference?

Ed: None. I am equally as guilty as you are. The thing is that you need to understand why some people go to hell because of their sin and some people go to heaven in spite of their sin. The reason that happens is because of Jesus. Jesus is the difference.

Jesus is the difference. Jesus. Jesus!