if i told you i was a loser, you might look at me differently–you would think i was being self-deprecating or that i was right and a little grubby.  A loser.  powerful label. but of course I do need to lose weight.  is it okay if I am a weight loser?  how about debt?  it is okay to be a debt loser.

Jesus is the one who points me toward what I need to lose and what I need to keep.  If it is houses or fancy cars it is pretty easy for me to listen to Him.  But there are some things I find difficult to next to impossible to let go of–my family, my sanity (J. would say already gone)

Jesus makes it pretty clear–if any one wants to keep his life he better be willing to lose it and the person who hangs on to her life will ultimately let it slip away (my paraphrase) or the even more challenging–

“what does it profit a person if he or she gains the whole world and loses his or her own soul?”

It isn’t being a loser per se that is so radical, dangerous or effacing; it is what we lose that will define us

forever…