Redemption

When we were little my brothers and I would buy Hot Wheels cars every chance we got. After a while our collection consisted of about 60 racecars, SUVs, emergency vehicles, tow trucks, etc. (most of which belonged to the other two, but I contributed my few.) The most desired car was a blue racecar that had the Nestle Crunch logo on the side. When we would get the Hot Wheels out to play, the first person to think about it would shout, "I claim the Crunch car!" In our imaginary town the Crunch car always had the biggest garage and was driven the most often. The lucky one with "Mayor Crunch" was proud to have it and usually gloated about his possession as long as we were playing.
Wednesday night the youth started a study in Ephesians. Verse 7 of the first chapter talks about the "redemption" we have because of Jesus' death. I've read this verse several times before, but when we stopped to talk about the meaning of "redemption" the passage took on a whole new meaning. Marvin said it best. He said that to redeem means to reclaim. Not only did I belong to Jesus to begin with, but when sin came into the picture and I went somewhere I shouldn't have been, He claimed me AGAIN. Just like we used to claim that blue car, Christ proudly claims me as His own.
It's interesting how one word you've grown up hearing can still change your life.