What’s my favorite thing about me? I can wiggle my eyes 😀. I’ve only ever met one other person who could do that. I’m upset that I’ve never got the credit I deserved for doing it 🧐. There just doesn’t seem to be much of a demand for eye wigglers 😫, at least not in Ireland.
Seriously, what I like most about myself is that, by God’s grace, I’m not the kind of person who just drifts through life without wondering what it’s all about.
“The unexamined life is not worth living”
Socrates
I must confess, at times, I wished that I could just get on with enjoying life without asking deep questions. When I got to my teens, I delved into philosophy and religion. I had great admiration for Jesus and deep within, I knew I wanted to follow him. But most younger people around me showed little signs of that. If you wanted to follow Jesus in Ireland, the thinking was that you were some kind of a goody two shoes, and maybe this was some call to be a priest, a monk or a nun. But I didn’t see that in the New Testament. I saw ordinary lay people who were enthusiastic about belonging to Jesus. Could I be like that?
When I first met evangelical Christians, they seemed much more like the Christians in the New Testament. Personality wise, I couldn’t see myself as ever becoming like them. However, when I was 18, I committed my life to Christ. I didn’t become perfect, and as I got to know other Christians, I soon found that they weren’t perfect either 😀. But I did like the fact that they were genuinely enthusiastic about Jesus. Within Catholicism, you would find old people devoted to Mary and the saints or some object related to Jesus, such as the blessed sacrament or holy picures of the sacred heart. Many of these related to historical Catholic traditions or movements. But I was always more eager to get right back to the flavour of the New Testament.
For a few years before my conversion I wondered if I’d ever make it as a Christian. I think of Peter during an early encounter with Christ:
Luke 5:8
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
And throughout the gospels, you’d hardly see Peter as a perfect example of a Christian, however eager he was. He even deserted and denied knowing Christ on the day of his crucifixion. Yet, Jesus used him as a key founder member of the Christian church. He was right up there on the day of Pentecost (See Acts 2).
I’m no way near as famous or effective as Peter, but my hope is that despite my limitations, God will use me to help build his kingdom.
Some years ago U2 released a single named You’re the Best Thing about Me.
It was based in a remark made to Bono by sports commentator, Eamon Dunphy, that the best thing about him was his wife, Ali. Well, I would say that Jesus is the best thing about me – or at least, my relationship with Jesus.
Around the time of my conversion, in the summer of 1980, I bought Bob Dylan’s album, Saved. I don’t know much about Dylan’s personal faith. He certainly hasn’t produced much explicitly Christian material since then, but anytime I listen to the album, I celebrate the fact that I’m saved.
1 Peter 1:8-9
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Hibernia Gospel 