Easter week blog off

In honor of Easter I have accepted a challenge to post daily bible inspired anecdotes related to aspects of Jesus' last week.  Today's topic, the selfless gift, as in when Mary anointed Jesus with perfume.

I once attended a Baptist summer retreat in middle school that turned me from God.  I wanted nothing to do with Him or anyone who believed in Him because some of the conversations I had while I was there, I flat refused to believe.  They were wrong, period, end of story, and close the book.  For a length of time, when questioned about my faith and beliefs, I would say I was agnostic.  I believed in a higher power, but I didn't know what to call it. During high school I experimented with various religions to try and find one that was the best fit for me.  I didn't like being agnostic.  It felt like I was a college kid with an undetermined major. I read up on Taoism, Buddhism, and Wicca. I said prayers to Zeus, and Odin.  I even prayed in the woods to the Green Man one time.  Go ahead, laugh if you like, this is kind of funny to recall.  For the remainder of high school I never pinned down what religion I belonged to.  Nothing ever had the right fit, and when it comes to faith "close enough" isn't.      

During my sophomore year of high school I met a guy named Brian.  We started talking video games before business principles class one day, and that was that. We've been good friends for the past 9 years.  One afternoon, well along in our friendship, we were preparing to go to the gym, and out of nowhere Brian presented me with a rectangular box.  "Here, I got you something," he said. I pulled off the lid to reveal a plain tan/red cover with the words Holy Bible in script across the front.  I regarded my friend for a minute.  We had talked religion before, he knew my story about the long ago summer camp that ruined God for me.  He smiled, clapped me on the shoulder and said "I know this isn't your thing Chase, but maybe one day." A simple gift of a bible, but no long winded speech or attempts to bring me to the light.  We went to the gym, our relationship unchanged...or was it?

For years, that bible lived in my top dresser drawer.  I saw it regularly, and could clearly recall. "I know this isn't your thing" every single time.  Life happened, as it does, and I found myself with a wife, sitting in church. I met a man there named Don and as a result of our 1st conversation, I was handed a challenge to read the whole Bible over the course of a year.  I went to my dresser drawer with a purpose.  A year passed and I turned page after page, reading verse after verse.  Then just before New Year's I ran out of pages and was looking at the back cover.  I picked up my cell phone and called Brian.  We exchanged our usual banter for a minute, then I stopped him and said, "Hey Brian, guess what's my thing now?"