Putting Yourself Out There

As a kid, I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents over the summers.  I would go for a week at a time, sometimes with my brothers, sometimes with cousins, sometimes with both, and sometimes with neither (but never with my parents).  This is a great experience for a kid.  I highly recommend it.

During those visits, I really got to know my grandparents.  You can project yourself to be whomever you want to project yourself as for a day or two, but over the course of a week (and several weeks in a single summer), day in and day out, your true self will shine through.  I got to discover the authenticity of my grandparents.  Those totally awesome people on Thanksgiving Day?  They're like that 24/7.  I also got to learn their stories.  They told me about growing up, courtship, working in an orphanage, raising children (which is more entertaining when those children are your dad, aunt, and uncle)...all sorts of stuff. 

One of the stories my grandma told me was about when she and my grandpa first started dating.  Apparently, my grandma had a nasty habit of dumping guys for sport.  Well, not for sport.  Basically, she was happy with single life and didn't want some guy to mess that up.  (I can relate.)  What changed when she met my grandpa?  Nothing, really.  Her mother (my great-grandma) told her that she couldn't break up with my grandpa unless she had an actual reason.  The rest, as they say, is history.

I never asked if my grandpa knew back then that my grandma had been a serial break-up artist.  I got the impression that he didn't, but I should have asked him.  I wonder now if he would have pursued her if he had known the high probability that she was going to hurt him.  Would he have put himself out there and taken that chance?

I think he would.  There's two reasons I think my grandpa would have risked his heart to pursue my grandma:

1. Grandma is that awesome.
2. Grandpa was that awesome.

Love is crazy like that.

That got me thinking.  Jesus put himself out there for us.  He knew what it would cost him.  God keeps on extending grace, even though He knows full well that more often than not, we're going to hurt him--and we all have.  That's some crazy love right there.

What's the appropriate response to a crazy love like that?  Crazy love is the only response to that.  If you aren't a fanatic about your response to God, I daresay you're not doing it right.

How do you know if you're loving God like you should?  Jesus said outsiders would be able to tell by the way we love one another.  That means it's our turn.  Have you put yourself out there to extend crazy love to someone today?