A Lust for JayJay

Have you ever met Jay Jay the jetplane? If you have a toddler then you know who he is. He is the shiny, happy little jetplane that adorns the local PBS station every morning right at my kids breakfast time. He and his friends from Tarrytown Airport (like Big Jake, Herky the Helicopter and Snuffy) make child-like mistakes and by the end of every 30 minutes episode they have learned a valuable moral lesson that is supposed to prepare my toddler to be a good person.
All is well and good. My boys stay seated during breakfast and sometimes even dance during the cute little songs. But Jay Jay has become an obsession for Caden. We thought the good parent thing to do was to buy him the figurines so that he could create his own "Jay Jay" adventures. But soon after we gave him the planes, we noticed that he would not let anyone else even near the things.

He grabs them out of his cousins hands if he picks them up. He knocks his brother (only 1) down if he even walks near Jay-Jay and friends. And if I or my wife pick them up he throws a fit. You don't have to tell me twice that we are sinfully selfish from birth, I see it everyday. I have seen Caden so obsessed with these planes that he will carry them around, so that they don't even get out of his sight. It got so bad that last night I had to have a little devotion with him about this concept they call sharing.

But isn't that where we all find ourselves. We all have something in our lives that we don't trust anyone else with, even God. Maybe its our money, relationships, kids, control, future.... you name it.

If Jesus were here he would find it in our lives. Like the time when he was approached by a rich & pious ruler. This man was a spiritual specimen, but he was holding onto his Jay-Jay. In spite of his stoutly pious life Jesus said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
That is the problem with holding onto things, like Jay-Jay. They keep us from following Christ... from being true disciples... from being true Christians. We must be willing to give up Jay-Jay and Herky and Big Jake and the whole Tarrytown family, or we will be too bogged down to follow Him. One day, I pray, Caden will be willing to lay down Jay-Jay.