And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”

And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.”

And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him,
and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

At that saying, his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he …

 (Mark 10:17-22)

. . . was very cool.

He had a cool truck, cool cars, and a cool motorbike. He wore cool clothes and he had cool hair. He had a cool place and cool furniture and he listened to cool music. He played in a cool band. He drank cool beer and smoked cool cigarettes. He had cool friends and went to cool parties. He had a cool job. He watched cool things on television and online. He made cool food and he ate at cool restaurants. He had a cool dog. He had cool bikes and cool skateboards and cool snowboards. He went on cool trips to cool places and did cool things. He had a cool walk and cool talk about cool things. He sent cool text messages, sometimes with cool pictures.

Those who talked to him knew how cool he was, though he would deny his own coolness (almost nothing and almost nobody — not even himself — was really cool enough for him).

And yes, he was even born cool. (He was that baby with the deep voice.)

The only problem was that
He didn’t know who he was.

He had invested so heavily in cool.
And he had lost so much in everything else.
He had lost so much.

In the first place, he didn’t know how to take the risks that mattered.

He became afraid
Very afraid
Of expressing himself
Of showing that he cared
Of fighting for the underdog
Whom he loved
With a fierce and tremendous love

He became afraid
Very afraid
Of apologizing
Of admitting that he had failed to help
In your time of need

He became afraid
Very afraid
Of making big changes
Of admitting that he had chosen the wrong path
Repeatedly

In the second place,
He did not open doors that were there
He did not fight the battles that were his
He did not find treasure meant for him
He did not win the victories he should have won
He did not speak the words that would have healed

And he missed the people in his midst

(And when they were gone
He missed them)

Oh, I am sad for him!
I am sad for his losses.
I am sad at his stubbornness.

Please, remind me that I must not be sad
Remind me that his God is a God of second chances.
Remind me that his God is a God of starting over.

His God is bigger and better than all of this.

He can rescue even the cool.

Jesus looked at them and said, “For man, this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God.”

(Mark 10:27)