Surprise

Some friends of mine have recently been scheming. An elaborate plan was formed behind my back and executed almost flawlessly.

My birthday was this past weekend. I was convinced I had figured out this plan. I really had no idea.

If you know me much, you'll know that pulling off a surprise for me is almost impossible. I am one of the best guessers I know and I also hate being "out of the loop" which means I will figure things out by (almost) any means necessary. I am relentless.

These beautiful friends of mine planned a surprise breakfast. That they had managed that, was shock enough. But as I left the restaurant, I found the surprise had only begun. These crazy people had rented a LIMO. A limo, for crying out loud. Not only that, but this limo was taking is to Napa. For the whole day. 

It was one of the most amazing and beautiful days of my life. I couldn't believe they had done it. Not just that they had pulled it off but that they had exerted so much time, energy, and money...for me.

I came home and cried from the sheer magnitude of their love for me.

This week, as I have thought about this best of Fridays and what that means I have been struck by two things.

Jesus loves me MORE than these friends of mine. His effort to love me trumps them everytime. 

And should I not be more surprised by the magnitude of his love for me?

It has become old news for many of us, I think. God, ultimate plan, Jesus, yeah yeah.

But what these friends, who love Jesus with all of their hearts, have shown me is that I should be made breathless by him. I should fall at the foot of his most precious surprise, the cross, and bawl my eyes out because of how he loves. I should stand in awe even more of his surprise than theirs. 

So, on this Good Friday I'm full of sorrow. And joy. And surprise. So much beautiful surprise. 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Romans 8:1-4