Oddball

May 22, 2023

A fellow I used to work with, many years ago, in the grocery store liked to refer to himself as “odd-sized.” He would say, “I’m too short for high work and too tall for low work.” Did that make him just right?

When I was young I wanted to be anything but odd-sized, or odd in any way whatsoever. I wanted to be accepted. Try as I might, I was always odd in some particular way. For one, I worked to make money, since it wasn’t plentiful in our house. Even before I got my newspaper delivery route at age eleven, my brother and I would round up empty drink bottles and walk the two miles to town to redeem them. Other kids didn’t have to work.

My brains also made me odd. Sometimes I wouldn’t raise my hand in class, even though I knew the answer, because it was embarrassing to me to be the only one to get it right.

I was moderately good in all sports, though not great in any. (Jeff Smith and I had the most stripes on our letter sweaters.). That made me odd.

I bought my own car, which made me odd, and bought my own gas. The way I danced was odd. My red corduroy pants were odd. My tendency to date younger girls was odd.

Now I realize it’s okay to be different. God made each of us unique. We are special. The world needs one odd person connecting with someone equally odd, that no one else can relate to, with the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” 1 Peter 2:9