Happy Birthday, Ben

In honor of my friend Ben, who I miss greatly. I've already written some of these down before, but it's good to repeat sometimes.

1. Ben's birthday is the only day of the year which, when yelled, sounds like a battle command from Gandalf or Aragorn in some sort of Orc battle sequence in The Two Towers. March FOURTH! You can't do that with, say, April 12, or Dec. 11.

2. Ben doesn't mind breaking all spoken and unspoken familial bonds and covenants by moving himself and his wife away, all while using the clever excuse "God told me to do it" so you can't really argue with him. This shows that he's very nefari...err...clever.

3. Ben rejected the US educational system, and instead opted to attend graduate school in Canada, a nation whose most prominent hockey teams is called the Maple Leafs. The last time I checked, the plural of "leaf" is "leaves." It would be like called them the San Jose Sharkeses.

4. Ben loves Jess. I have had the opportunity to be in a weekly accountability group with Ben that meets every Tuesday night, and has for the past four years. During that time, I have seen Ben move from the "engagement" stage to the "married" stage (and been privy to lots of "insider information" about Ben and his relationship with Jessica). Here's what I can tell you without breaking bonds of confidentiality: Ben takes very seriously Paul's mandate to Christian husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. He is deeply considerate of Jess' wishes, thoughts and desires. If love is best shown through one party "humbling" themselves to serve in selfless love another, then Ben has clearly shown this type of love during the years that I have known him.

5. Ben has more energy than a squirrel who found a discarded bag of chocolate covered espresso beans, ate them all, and then accidentally fell onto a syringe of synthetic squirrel adrenaline (it could happen). The first thing that a person notices about Ben is his energy. He’s a soccer player, and he’s built like one: slender, average height with an aura of speed about him. He’s quick to laugh, quick to talk, quick to smile. He’s got this giant smile, with perfectly proportioned teeth. It’s a smile so perfect, you have to think his parents are still paying off orthodontist bills. And that energy pops out no matter what Ben is doing. You soon realize that this guy is passionate. Passionate about the movie the movie he just saw, passionate about the best flavor of scone at Starbucks, passionate about which pets are the weirdest for humans to own.

But here's what I have found: people will follow passion. There is so little authentic passion in our increasingly apathetic society that Passion is almost like an indicator of life and vitalitty. And we all, as people, are naturally attracted to that. We want more of that in our lives. And we are willing to follow that, even if it's not good or healthy. Ben has a great deal of passion, which makes people pay attention, even if they're not inherently interested at first in what he's saying.

Ben's biggest passion, is of course, God. His life is centered around his adoration of this God who became man and died on a cross. The narrative of the Bible captivates Ben. And now there is this collision of Ben's great passions. His passion about people, his passion about God, and his passion that the Bible really does have the power to change lives forever. That's a perfect storm of passion. So world, as Ben turns 28, watch out.