Jesus, The Electrician

 

In 2024, my wife and I moved to north Mesa, about 20 minutes from our original home. It took me double the time to get to work, but the solitude, peace, and safety was worth it. It’s not to say we weren’t safe at the previous location, but the new spot is more countryside than city. Less congestion and noise, more safety.

 

Being further north doesn’t just mean safety, though. It also means more Jesus.

 

He’s just a phone call away, and he’ll fix any lights you need to because he’s a certified electrician.

 

We all need Jesus in our life because he’ll keep the lights of your life shining brightly. He will make sure the wires aren’t mixed up and you’re not living in darkness. If you reach out to him, he will draw near to you and will be your guide when things shut down on you.

 

This is inevitably what went through my mind when I saw an 8x10 flyer duct taped to a lamppost advertising and offering Jesus Garcia’s services to the North Mesa community.

 

And every time I saw this same advertisement faithfully hanging on by a thread, I would think about the parallels Jesus Garcia the electrician has with Jesus Christ the carpenter.

 

Well, just the name and the fact that they were known for their work with their hands.

 

“Need an Electrician? Call Jesus Garcia,” the flyer read.

 

Since I have yet to call the number, I don’t know much about the guy other than what is advertised on the flyer. Everything else is inferred: He’s confident he can get the job done, he’s from Mesa or around there, and he is not Jesus Christ. I could also infer he’s a good guy, a trustworthy electrician, and does not have a criminal record, but for a guy I only know through a piece of paper in the middle of a bridge overlooking the 202, it’s a stretch to say he’s a good man, electrician, and citizen of Arizona.

 

It’s also a stretch to say he’s a bad man, an untrustworthy electrician, and a criminal because, the point is, we don’t know enough about the guy to trust our gut.

 

When it comes to Jesus Garcia, we need to do our research on the guy before we allow him into our home, pay him money, and let him fix whatever is broken. We need to look up reviews, see if his website looks professional, and ask around to see if people know him as a reliable tradesperson. Even if he is, there may be other companies who are better suited to be the solution to your problem.

 

This is not a rant about who Jesus Garcia is or is not. After all, I haven’t even called the guy to know if he’s real. Regardless, what I do know is no matter how much investigating I do, there will always be one difference between the two tradespeople named Jesus, among many:

 

One Jesus doesn’t need to prove himself to be the best choice.

 

No offense to Jesus Garcia, but there is centuries and generations worth of positive, powerful reviews that Jesus Christ is the most dependable electrician in the world, then and now. There is not only billions and billions of eyewitness accounts proving he is the best decision you can ever make, but books are written about him. In fact, he’s so good, he’ll even help you through issues you didn’t know you had!

 

Evidence aside, the mere fact that Jesus Christ is co-equal with God and the Holy Spirit is all you need to know when it comes to who you should place your ultimate trust in. If this is the case, then let me introduce you to a math term called the Transitive Property:

 

If A=B, and B=C, then A=C.

 

If God is co-equal with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is co-equal with Jesus, then God is co-equal with Jesus.

 

Now that’s quality math.

 

Billy Graham, in his daily devotional, Hope for Each Day, explains how the Holy Spirit, God, and the Son are not just equal, but that the Holy Spirit is “not an impersonal power or force, nor is He just a divine influence or agent. He is a mighty Person, the Holy Spirit of God.”

 

Again, A=B, and B=C, so A=C. This means if the Holy Spirit is mighty, so is Jesus. And if you’ve spent any time around Jesus Christ, you would know that the power of his presence will keep the lights on in your heart and mind for a long time.

 

Usually, we call on a man like Jesus Garcia because we need help. We’re feeling despair because something that should be working is not. Because Jesus Christ is 100% satisfaction guaranteed, we will never reach a point of despair. Anglican bishop Jeremy Taylor said, “It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.”

 

No offense to Jesus Garcia, but though he may screw in lightbulbs and install control systems in houses, he is not all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing. That would be an amazing electrician if he was. But Jesus Christ is, and we do not need to worry about our lives when we have an all-powerful God who is just a phone call away.

 

If you’re ever in the Mesa area and you need an electrician who will keep the lights of your life shining brightly, make sure the wires aren’t mixed up, and you’re not living in darkness, reach out to Jesus. He will draw near to you and will be your guide when things shut down on you.

 

And give Jesus a call while you’re at it.

 

 

Copycat: The Valley and Mountaintop

Every mountaintop comes with its valleys (taken in Oregon - November 2025)

No offense, but if you haven’t heard of Bluey, an animated show about a dog family, and the main character is a six-year-old – Bluey – who has a younger sibling (Bingo) and supportive parents who have as creative of an imagination as her, then you lived under a rock up until this very moment. I also forgive you if you’re not a parent or grandparent of a toddler in 2026, otherwise your chances of not knowing anything about the show just went up.

 

For me personally, it is an inspiration for how I can aide my own young son’s blossoming personality and imagination without sabotaging it. The show’s creators do an amazing job depicting Bandit, the father, as all-in and constantly coming up with games to engage his kids. Nearly every episode shows him actively participating in whatever Bluey and Bingo’s imagination concoct for that episode.

 

In one episode, Bluey wants to play Copycat, and the episode begins with her doing exactly what her dad does right when he gets up for the day. She does a remarkable job, until she spots an injured bird. Immediately, her instincts to care for the less fortunate kick in and puts all of her focus on caring for this bird.

 

Chances are high that if you’re a parent, you’re not going to spoil it for your child – if you do not have a child, you likely don’t care enough about the outcome of one Bluey episode to worry about whether I provide spoilers or not. Of course, if you do care regardless, don’t read further.

 

Here’s the spoiler: the bird dies.

(I promise it's a show for kids)

 

This is important because it looks to completely derail Bluey, and what child wouldn’t be?

 

Then, Bluey decides to do something that changes the trajectory of the episode: she plays Copycat with Bingo, her younger sister, and Bing plays the bird. In the episode, this is clearly Bluey’s way of coping with the pain. Bingo, like any young sister not older than preschool age, does little to follow the script, and it aggravates Bluey because she wants it to be identical to her bird experience with her dad.

 

She wants it to be the exact same.

Early on, when Bluey and her dad find the bird, the bird nips at dad and in response, with fist clenched, he whispers to himself, “Toughen up, Bandit!”

 

At the beginning of Bluey’s Copycat activity with her younger sister moments later, Bluey tells Bingo she has to nip her, like the bird did to Bandit. When Bingo bites Bluey, she tells Bingo that was not a nip, but then she whispers to herself, “Toughen up, Bluey!”

 

At this point, you’ll just have to watch the episode. At the end of the episode, while mom and Bluey are sitting on the porch steps and Bingo is flying around like a living bird even though she should be pretend “dead,” dad reminds Bluey that she forgot to stop copying him.

 

“Oh yeah!” She says, though she makes no attempt to keep the game going.

 

Yet, throughout the episode, she does copy dad, even when she is pretending Bingo is the dead bird. Not only does she tell herself to toughen up like her dad did, but when both Bluey’s dad and her found out the real bird died, Bandit said, “…there’s nothing we can do. It’s out of our hands.”

When Bingo stays alive as a pretend bird and flies around, Bluey initially gets frustrated because they are supposed to pretend as accurately as possible. When mom connects the dots and asks, “That’s not how you wanted the game to go, is it?”

 

“That’s okay. There’s nothing we can do. It’s out of our hands” – exactly what dad said.

 

When we have an amazing experience with Jesus, we want to copy him and everything he did and does. We want to change everything in our own lives and the lives of others, which is a noble desire.

But, because we are not God, we often come across points where we don’t intentionally mimic the way of Jesus. Oswald Chambers calls it, “the drudgery of the valley” versus the height of the mountaintop. When we have a breathtaking experience with God, whether in prayer, worship, long walks in nature, etc. these are mountaintop experiences. The valley is where temptations, humiliation, slip-ups, and un-Christlike behavior is likely going to occur. In addition, it’s also where it feels like there is distance from God – struggle, hurt, pain, obstacles, etc. But just because we’re in the valley, there’s no law against taking the Word of God and his presence with us. In fact, this is precisely what God wants.

 

When Bluey was temporarily interrupted from her time with her dad and focused on the bird, then with Bingo acting like a pretend bird, she didn’t forget her dad’s words. They were “hidden in her heart”, like Psalm 119:11 says.

 

Maybe the injured bird of your life places you smack dab in the middle of a valley you never wanted. Who does want a valley? Maybe you shout, “This is not how it is supposed to go!” But then you remember to “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding,” (Proverbs 3:5-6) or to “not be anxious about anything but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God…will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Bluey took her dad’s words and applied them to her own life when she felt like she was on her own in dealing with her pain. The words of her dad pulled her through the valley of losing a bird she cared for and about.

 

Chambers adds, “The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all power in heaven and earth belonged to Jesus. Will you see it now in the valley?”

Little Chopsticks: The Finger of Doom

The Finger of Doom even terrorizes my Frenchies 

May 2026 was a big month for our son, Calvin – 14 months at the time. He gained multiple skills like finally crawling with his hands and knees instead of his forearms and his legs dragging across the ground like he’s in the Vietnam War. “This isn’t the army, Calvin” I would think to myself.

 

He also acquired the skill of picking my nose.

 

I call this recent development “chopsticks.” 

Now, chopsticks refers to anytime he pokes at something with one index finger or both. But telling you the nose-picking story out of all of the things he has been poking within his first two years of being alive is the most fun to tell. 

 

With mouth gaped open like he’s trying to disarm a bomb and the focus of a lion crouching low in the African savanna for his next meal, Calvin will whip out his chopstick fingers whenever I am laying on the ground with our offspring on top of my stomach.

 

Imagine for a moment that you are laying in a field facing the clouds, and as your heart is filled with contentment and gratitude, you see a balloon come into view from the left corner of your peripherals – you don’t move your head, but the balloon casually invades your view as it drifts off into the distance.

 

Calvin’s fingers are like that balloon. Instead of being a balloon drifting off into the stratosphere, it attacks you. From my view, I see an innocent pair of fingers, one on each hand, hovering above my face. Little do I know that in few seconds, those same fingers are looking to either do some dental work in my mouth or stab the very back of my nostrils.

 

Some days, when he decides to play dentist, it looks more like he dumped the ingredients of a delicious bowl of ramen in my mouth and is proceeding to mix it together with his fingers like they are utensils. Other days, I wind up with a bloody nose after he heads straight to the back of it with his little finger.

 

One day I was reflecting on this recent “skill” he developed, and I thought about how incredible God must be to already instill a sense of intense focus in our one-year-old boy. Nowadays, it is difficult for me to stay focused on one task at a time; yet someone who is 36 years younger than me is already focusing better than me.

 

Then I naturally got to thinking, What if I focus on God like this? What if the way Calvin’s fingers find their way up my nose can be applied to how I pursue God – with intense deliberation and focus.

 

I believe long before my nose started bleeding, Calvin already decided he was going to send his finger on a mission to see what was inside the deep, dark abyss of his dad’s nose. What if, long before my day starts, I decide to send my mind and heart on a mission to allow God into my day, my thoughts, and my conversations with others? What if I allow my ears to hear the heart of God and the Truth of Scripture and what He says about me to penetrate my mind?

“…letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace,” Romans 8:6 says.

“Think about the things of Heaven, not the things of Earth,” Colossians 3:2 commands.

In my other post, “Larry, the Wise Racquetball Ghandi,” I mentioned how Larry told me “I play better when I don’t think about the last shot.” So much of my life is focused on the last shot that I derail my momentum with God. I lose sight of him in the midst of all of the chaos I stir up in my brain.

 

Corrie Ten Boom once said “If the Devil can’t make us bad, he will make us busy,” and when I am busy putting all of my attention on trying to do things on my to-do list, solve problems throughout the day, and worry about things in the future, without God, it creates the chasm the Devil wants to keep building. He loves to interrupt God’s plan, and if we let him provide us with a convincing argument to not think of the things of heaven, then he’ll come up with reasons that distract us.

 

If you ever feel that God is out of view, you just need to “pick” your way through the outside noise and ground yourself in the Truth of who God is and how He sees you. Sure, what Calvin is after (the back of my nose) and what you’re after (closeness with God) are likely two different things, but the same means to each end can be exercised: deliberation and focus to achieve what you’re seeking. 

 

The good news is there are plenty of resources to use to develop and maintain the habit of being close to Him and grounded in the Truth.

 

First, be honest in your dialogue with God. Second, immerse yourself deep in Scripture, and third, surround yourself with people who challenge you in your faith and remind you to be in lock step with God.

 

Who knows? After developing these habits, you might be as focused as my son is at picking my nose.