Last Minute Gift Ideas

Picking out presents for someone is always challenging...do you play it safe and go with something you know he will like, or do you take more risk by branching out in the hopes that the return (i.e. his excitement joy) will be such that his face may explode? I think almost all gifts fall into one of four categories in order from least to most risky, lowest to highest return potential:

Trendy Generic Gift: The gift that majority of people in select demographic will appreciate and have use for. No surprises, just practical. Personal in a sense that they are a man and men appreciate this gift. Examples include wallets, cologne, electric razor, and camouflage colored snuggie.

The No Brainer: The gift that has been spelled out explicitly to you either in gentle hint or half-joke ultimatum form. "I was telling my girlfriend the other day, if Danny doesn't get me a diamond for Christmas, we're through". or the oh so blunt email "Dear David, I thought it'd be fun this year if we made wish lists for each other than we can each select a few items to get for each other so we will still be surprised. Love Schmoopie" . Alternatively, gift could be a new version of something she has loved in the past.

The Gift Card: The gift that lets the person know you are aware of her favorite store. It also lets her know you recognize that your opinion on her favorite sweater from Banana Republic differs drastically with her own personal taste. So really, you are being extra sweet by giving her back the freedom to decide what form of cotton she wants to go romping around in.

The Wild Card: The gift that you choose 100% on your own without any sort of input or advice from recipient. In an ideal world, this person will experience sheer ecstasy momentarily as they are surprised (both with the awesomeness of the gift, and surprised at your ability to pick out something so stupendous on your own). Granted, there is the potential that you and recipient will realize you don't know recipient well at all when she opens a dual bag vacuum when she was expecting a necklace, but hey it's worth the risk right?

So we have a variety of options for people we know. But how would we choose a gift for someone we've never met before whose birthday conveniently is on Christmas (Jesus)? Real quick, let's go through the same categories:

Trendy Generic Gift: Promise to attend church regularly and share the gospel with people.

The No Brainer: Love people (do 'good deeds', make sacrifices, return evil with kindness, grant favors without expecting anything in return) .

The Gift Card: Donate money to church, a non-profit, a homeless person, enemy, or a friend/family member in need!

The Wild Card: Spend quality time alone with just you and Jesus.

Friends, the Wild Card is what God wants from us most. I can't even begin to pretend that I have a gift that would ever please the Son of God. Any material gift I could provide, even if I could afford frankincense, myrrh, or gold, would be insufficient. I think the drummer boy had it right. He was a poor boy and had no gift to bring the King so what did he do instead? He honored God by worshiping Him in song! So maybe you aren't musically talented, who cares! Just spending time with Jesus is enough... and He looks with favor on this more so than any type of act of service we could provide. It seems crazy to think that Jesus would prefer us to be still and spend time with Him versus being involved in activities serving the community, but it's true! Check this passage out:

" As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

In closing, it's up to you to decide what type of gift to get a loved one, but I'd like to encourage you to take a risk and go for the wild card. It might take more time and effort but it will be worth it. Speaking of which, I need to head to the mall. Merry Christmas!

General Tso's Vegan Chicken...better than crack?

ALERT: I may or may not have discovered the best food on the planet! Over Thanksgiving break my brother introduced me to what I truly believe is magic in my mouth. My brother presented me with a small Tupperware container, that housed 1 piece of what I thought was General Tso's Chicken. Apparently he had been saving it for over a week in anticipation of my arrival. I decided to appease him and popped the snack sized bite in my mouth. BOOM. Despite the cold temperature of the Chinese food, I found it to be highly enjoyable! It was juicy and bursting with flavor. After my brother confirmed my liking, he revealed to me that it was from Whole Foods and it was vegan "chicken" (aka tofu). TIME OUT. I hated tofu. The only time I had tofu before was at a Japanese Steakhouse over 10 years ago...I knew in theory it was supposed to be good for me, so decided to give it a whirl when my cousin ordered it... my experience: boring, flavorless, and a sick-nasty rubbery texture, YUCK. I was utterly perplexed that what I had just so thoroughly enjoyed could be tofu! A few days later I got a whole half pound of it so see if I would enjoy a full meal of it. Welp, not only was it amazingly delicious, I was full afterward and not left with that utterly gross full feeling... ya know the kind after you eat legit General Tso's Chicken which is so greasy that it makes you feel the need to take a shower.

So, can you think of something you tried once a long time ago and didn't like? Maybe it left a bad taste in your mouth (literally or figuratively) and you decided you would never try it again. But what if your tastes/preferences have changed since then? What if that thing you tried was fundamentally still the same, but it was presented in a new and highly appealing manner?

The only other time this has happened to me was with church. I used to HATE church. Stand up. Sit down. Hear a dude get up and ramble for an hour. YAWNNNNN. Although I knew in theory it was good for me, I didn't care because I thought it was utterly boring and could never pay attention. After college, in-spite of having many worldly things (good job, good relationships, money) I felt incredibly empty inside and yearned for something more...so I decided to give church another chance. BOOM. Church (Frontline) was AMAZING. Fundamentally it was still the same (worship and learn about God/Jesus) but it was re-packaged using things I already had a liking for....i.e. pianos and guitars playing contemporary worship songs, a charismatic speaker presenting a sermon using B.L.U.F (bottom line up front format),telling personal stories I could relate to, PowerPoint slides to help follow along with the scriptures and emphasize the key take aways and how to apply them to my life!

So this holiday season, I challenge you to try something again that you've tried a long time ago and swore it off. Maybe it's church, maybe it's tofu, or maybe it's something different. But take the risk, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.