Southern Indiana Living SeptOct 2013

Finding the perfect pumpkin
When you
have kids,
finding
the perfect
pumpkin is easier said
than done. Every fall I
throw my girls into the
car and haul them out
to the local orchard in a
quest for the holy grail of
Halloween fruit.
This is a huge production.
We have to pack
snacks and drinks, drive
all the way to the orchard
and then hike about 127
miles to the pumpkin
patch located somewhere
near the South American
border. Okay, maybe it’s
not South America, but it
seems like it takes us forever
to get there.
The orchard provides
us with a little red wagon
that my kids love to ride in, which was
cute when they were two, but is backbreaking
now that they are four and
seven.
Once we make it to
the pumpkin patch,
though, the real work
begins. Somehow we
have to navigate the
sea of orange and green to fnd the perfect
pumpkin. There are thousands of
choices, and my kids want to examine
every single one. Twice.
To make matters more complicated,
their defnition of perfect is slightly different
than mine. When it comes to
pumpkins, my daughters’ love is blind.
They don’t care if it’s rotting on the
ground or green on the vine. Warts? No
problem. Discolored? Not an issue. A
huge gouge cleaving the pumpkin in
two? What gouge?
If there were an island of misft pumpkins,
my daughters would take them all.
Despite my eforts to steer them to the
classic round, orange and smooth variety,
they tend to follow their hearts.
“God. Picks. You. Even
when no one else does.”
In that way, they refect the heart of
God. A follower of Jesus named Paul once
wrote, “Even before he made the world,
God loved us and chose us . . . This is
what he wanted to do,
and it gave him great
pleasure.” (Ephesians
1:4-5, NLT)
You would think as
God looked over the
vines of humanity entangled throughout
history, He would have a wealth of great
options when picking those to join His
family. The keenest of minds. The purest
of hearts. The most courageous of leaders.
He could choose the popular, the
beautiful, the perfect.
But that’s the weird thing about God.
He picks everybody. Warts and all. Feel
like a loser? No problem. Got a shady
past? Not an issue. Made some mistakes?
What mistakes?
Whether you shine like a jack o’ lantern
or act like a pumpkin head, you are loved
and chosen. God. Picks. You. Even when
no one else does. Especially when no
one else does. And all He asks in return
is for you to believe it, to get your head
and heart around the fact that a God who
could have anyone, wants you. That’s
called faith.
As for me, it’s getting easier to believe. I
watch it play out every year in a vast
pumpkin patch near the South American
border. It always ends the same. I fnally
realize that the perfect pumpkin is whichever
one my girls pick. Their love bestows
a value of it’s own. I’m thankful for a love
like that. I’m thankful for being picked. •
Jason Byerly is a writer, pastor, husband and
dad who loves the quirky surprises God sends
his way every day. He believes life is much
funnier and way cooler than most of us take
time to notice. You can catch up with Jason on
his blog at www.jasonbyerly.com or follow him
on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jasondbyerly.
September/October 2013 • 58