My wife, through her blog Thankful Moments, tagged me with a meme. She had been tagged originally by our mutual blogging friend, Hey Jules. Being the inquisitive guy that I am, I had to first check out what a meme is ... to make sure it wasn't something debilitating, addictive, or highly contagious. After checking it out, I was reasonably comfortable with things.

The meme poses this question: Why Do I Love Jesus? Lisa and Jules both had wonderful responses to this question, forcing me to look inward and think a bit deeper and come up with my own answer this question. I didn't want to just copy their answers. If I am going to live a life devoted to this man who walked this earth a couple of thousand years ago, this is probably a very good question to know my personal answer to.

An obvious reason is because He gave His life for me ... He provided me a pathway to salvation. Hard to not love someone for that.

But my additional response is this ... I love Jesus for the stories He told and the lessons He taught during His time on earth.

I grew up with a childhood view of Christianity based largely upon a "Wizard of Oz" sort of God. This all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-judgmental God who, at the end of my life was going to make a "Deal or No Deal" pronouncement over me.

Developing a knowledge of and love for Jesus was something that has happened to me more during my adult life. And it has taken me far beyond the Wizard of Oz type of God who I never knew that I could possibly live up to his expecations. Instead, through the teachings of this Jesus who I love so much, I learned about how to live my life, how to treat others and how, out of gratitude for His impact on my life, to allow Jesus' love to flow through me. Jesus gave me a calling ... a purpose ... that is far far beyond any calling or purpose that this world can ever give.

I have, of course, also learned that it is a journey. But I know that I am His and that, by doing my best to follow and be like Jesus, I am living the life I am called to live and I will spend eternity in a very very good place.

So, should I tag others with this meme? If so, whom shall I tag?

Well, you're all off the hook ... I am not tagging anyone. HOWEVER, if you think that you'd better know your own personal answer to this question -- Why Do I Love Jesus? -- then I encourage you to spend some time with it ... and answer it in your blog.