A Dirty Story

I am amazing, on account of the fact that I ran 3 miles In the Rain. Really, I did. Me and Jenine did it this very evening.
I would be more amazing if I had a clean house, of course, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?
It is rainy tonight, for the first time in a long while. Just yesterday, the heat was over 100 degrees. Unmercifully hot! But there is change in the air, and Autumn is on her way. There are a few things that I would sign up to change, and quite a few things I'd keep steady. But God doesn't seem to consult me on these matters, and He has a whole plan thing worked out.
He tends to give these little kicks of encouragement when I falter, you know. Today it was a free oil change.
I know that doesn't come off as deeply spiritual at first blush, but it was. The greasy guy from under the car said, "It's on the house today, since you had to wait." And I knew it was one of those Divine moments where God reminds me that He is perfectly capable of providing for me any way He wants to.
Even with Greasy Hands.
I'll bet Jesus was the sort of Man Who often had dirty hands. Don't you think? I just don't buy the pretty, well-kept paintings of Him.
I'll bet His hands were hard with callouses, and His face was leathery from the sun. I imagine that He was a big, sort of strapping fellow. Can you picture Him? Carpenters had to be pretty strong to heft around all those tools, and cabinets, and custom furniture they made.
Plus, he probably didn't shower very often, though perhaps he swam in the bracing Sea of Galilee. That's a weird thought.
He had to be a really tough Man to take the brutal beating they gave Him. I mean, He survived a long time after losing a ton of blood. He had to have been strong.
He was willing to lift up dirty little kids, and caress those oozing lepers. He got real gentle, sometimes. Have you ever seen one of those posters of a Great Big man holding a tiny little baby? I'll bet He was like that. It's a picture of contradiction. Like a Lover who can battle the worries of all the world, then have Hands of Velvet.
Wow.
This is the Man I have entrusted with my entire life, and that of my children.
I can trust a man like that.
His hands are dirty.
They're stained with Blood.