Living Between Sizes

The president's wife insists that living a active and healthy lifestyle is "rewarding".  Perhaps I have a gross misunderstanding of what the term "rewarding" means.  If "rewarding" is green and bitter tasting, then I am rewarded beyond my years.  What did I do to deserve this?

My personal observation is that I can be fat and happy or skinny and miserable. If there is a happy medium, I haven't found it.

Anyway, imagine what a shock it was to my system to find that "healthy" means avoiding all foods I love and driving past all McDonald drive thru windows. It seems unamerican but thus far I seem to be maintaining a pulse.   

So here I am, a few weeks into my new found "healthy" life, when I discovered that my Wranglers were baggy.  Never had that happen before. Michele insists that "baggy" is a positive thing to be embraced with pride.  This suggests that rap music singers are terribly blessed souls.   

The downside to discovering baggy Wranglers is that it requires a trip to the Walmart for smaller Wranglers.  My wifey is excited about the smaller Wranglers and the fact that I am close to being able to purchase Wranglers in standard sizes.   

Fast forward my storyline to the WalMart men's Wranger department.  One size is too baggy and the next size down is too tight. My insightful wife patiently explains that pant sizes skip a number here and there just to keep things interesting. Somehow that makes sense to me, so I buy her explanation.

Living in "the land between sizes" is an odd experience.

I was pondering what it is like to live in a world where you don't "fit in". There was a King that chose to become a slave.  He lived between the classes and was rejected by all.  He refused to tolerate sin and refused to allow peer pressure to draw Him into a proud religious mindset. 

On one side you have people who wear their pants too tight and definitely don't get enough oxygen. On the other you have a very eclectic group with baggy drawers that refuse any and all structure.  These people wave their hands in the air and identify themselves simply as “spiritual beings”. 

King Jesus lived in the land between the uber religious and the sin saturated crowds. His focus was simply to complete His Father's plan. 

King Jesus clearly didn't fit in with the religious upper crust. On the surface they dressed right and said the right things, but King Jesus publicly revealed, "They worship me with their lips but their hearts are far from me". They nailed Him to a cross for telling the truth.

So what was King Jesus' relationship with those "rough around the edges"? He invested massive amounts of time influencing them to be "born again" and follow Him. King Jesus revealed each day how much He hated sin but loved the sinner.

The "spiritual low hanging fruit" is simply that King Jesus wants you to live this life as a traveler -- moving through this world as an influential visitor but not sinking roots and participating in the selfish value system and sin saturated lifestyle. 

‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas
as commands from God.’
Matthew 15:8-9 NLT

But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples,

“Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
When Jesus heard this, he said,
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.”
Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture:
‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’
For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous,
but those who know they are sinners.”
Matthew 9:11-13 NLT