1 Peter 2:24a
He Himself bore our sins in His body...

Among the many things that I do in the summer - speak at camps, mow the grass, stay so busy for weeks at a time that I don't send out Evotions on a regular basis - I get to load up Parker, Will, and Sydney and take them swimming. I'm blessed because my children love the water and there's none of that standing on the side trying to convince them that the water is their friend or that the pool is really just a big bowl of Jell-O that they should jump into and eat (I'm not sure where that last one came from, so let's just agree to let it go, okay?). The boys play Navy Seals and Sydney washes and combs my hair. The toughest part of the whole thing is getting them OUT of the pool when it's time to go.

Yesterday, after we had swum enough to make our bodies look like raisins, I told them it was time to go and was met with the usual "oh, please, Dad, can't we just swim for five more hours!!" Of course, being the Dad I am, I said no, and I got Sydney out to dry her off. She noticed right away that I was using a different towel than the one we had brought for her and she asked why. I told her that her other towel was wet because we had used it to dry her off the 2 times that she had to go use the bathroom after we had gotten in the pool. She asked, "But how did it get wet?" in such a cute way that I couldn't say anything about how I had just told her how it got wet, and so I repeated the whole thing again about the potty and stuff but added the super technical wording about how when we use a dry towel on us when we're wet, the towel gets wetter as we get drier. I have to admit, I impressed myself with my clear explanation. Her take on what I said? "That's what towels do, Daddy."

Where was Sydney when I was taking theology in seminary? Her explanation of what towels do clears up for me - and probably you - exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. He actually bore - took on Himself - our sin. In other words, the "cleaner" we got, the "dirtier" He became, so much so that God even looked away. Sure, in theology class it all sounded so complicated. But there's nothing like an afternoon swim with a 3 year-old to remind you of it's simplicity. He took on our sins so that we could be clean. After all...

...that's what a Saviour does.