The Game of Things

This past week, I was introduced to a new board game. Usually when I play a board game, or any game for that matter; I play to win. I don’t always possess the most talent or the best answers but I do formulate a game plan (no pun intended).  Even though there is strategy or just plain luck in my game plan my main focus is creating as much laughter as I possibly can. And fortunately for everyone else, the game of Things ignites a part of my brain that yields tons of laughter. The game is exactly as it sounds. You are given a statement and you can fill or answer it with anything your little brain can come up with. The strategy is to keep others from guessing which response belongs to you.  For example, one card read: Things you should never wait until tomorrow to do. Some may have answered with an emotional response by saying tell loved ones how much you love them. Some may have answered with an inspirational response by saying anything you could do today. And I would answer with: change dirty underwear.  Yes friends, that was an actual response. My strategy for this game was nonexistent because everyone else playing could guess my answers 99 times out of 100. (who else would put walk a tightrope for things you shouldn’t do naked?)  

My personality and my wit separate me from others in board games and in everyday situations. (If I weren’t so uniquely made, my readings wouldn’t be nearly as fun!) And when I come up with crazy sayings or catchy one hit quotables; my friends remember them long after the laughter fades. But what else do they remember about me? And more importantly, what does God remember about me? If there was a card that read: things that remind you of Jay Garcia what would His response be?  As He read His answers, would I laugh at His wit and be humbled by His kind words? Would I be overjoyed with my creator’s responses? Or would His depictions of me bring tears to my eyes?  One day I will meet God and I will be judged for my entire life. I will stand in front of Him as He reads card after card of His responses.  I will see my life through the eyes of my creator. And so will you friends.  When He is asked, “Things that represent Jay Garcia.”; I want Him to say more than a fast driver who drinks too much coffee, hates to exercise but loves to sweat, is obsessed with sunglasses, sweatpants, and laundry detergent, and has eaten more ice cream that a small village in China combined. I want His responses to make Him proud. I want His responses to give Him the glory and the praise. I want His responses to bring a smile to His face. I want His responses to reflect Him in every way possible. I want His responses to let everyone else know that despite my vulnerabilities, my struggles, my fears, and my weaknesses; I lived for God. I want Him to say, “Jay Garcia: a child after my own heart.” And because I want Him to say that; I will live everyday loving Him with all of my heart, with all of my mind, with all of my soul, and all of my strength. Will you? Or will you live your life without giving God every part of who you are? Choose Him friends because one day you will stand before Him and He will give you His responses.

Sometimes, I hear God’s responses to who I am…sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry, and sometimes I am overjoyed. But every time I am faithfully committed to loving Him with every ounce of my being so He can use me until the day I finally stand before Him and get my much anticipated responses.  I am fully prepared to hear him say, “Jay Garcia, my only child who thought it was a good idea to go sled riding, on a cafeteria tray, down a hill that ended feet from the Ohio River.”  

Verse to remember: Romans 14:9-11 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”