A Laughable Excuse for Radical Living.

Andrew is my brother and sometimes he annoys me.

Wanna hear that pun for the 51st time? He's your man.

Wanna know the latest news on youtube videos? Yep, Andrew's the guy for the job.

If he ever asks you if you want to know something awesome, don't. Because with thumbs pointed toward his chest and a sly smile on his face, he'll respond, "This guy."

Sometimes, he annoys me.

But I remember one night when my dad, Andrew and I were standing around the island in the kitchen talking about everything and nothing. A family in our church came up in conversation. I was telling my dad that I really respected the father who leads this family well. His eldest son was quite the pot head during my time at West High, but dad keeps loving him back home.

"Yeah," my dad said shaking his head, "his son was quite the rebel."

I nodded profoundly in agreement.

"No, he wasn't," Andrew chimed in. I rolled my eyes thinking he would be taking the pot head's side and going to go on some long rant about how the legalization of marijuana is a founding issue in the upcoming election.

"He never was a rebel," he continued. "He was just going with the flow. Following Jesus would be the rebel thing to do."

Boom. There it was. He slapped it on the table, and walked away.

"I stand corrected," Dad said, with a proud daddy smile.

Me, too. Andrew's right. Jesus was radical, dangerous even. He refused to do what he was supposed to do, what the religious leaders of the day expected of him. Think about that: Jesus shrugged His divine shoulders at the church folk's nagging, shook His sovereign head and said, "You just don't get it." He refused the well-worn path of political leaders and the rejected the works-based thinking of the modern theologians. He trudged His own road, one that ended with a bloody murder and an empty cave. And He said all He wanted was to glorify His Father and love us.

Yeah, Jesus was a rebel. His life makes smoking pot is a laughable excuse for radical living.

Andrew is my brother and sometimes he annoys me. And sometimes he slaps me in the face with theological truth I've long forgotten.