Our Father

I had a moment the other day with my son, who turns two this weekend. He's reached the age where he volunteers kisses and hugs without being prompted, and it's stinkin' cute! If he gives Mommy a kiss, he has to give Daddy one, too...ya know, keep the balance in the force.

Anyhow, he started walking towards me from across the room the other day and said, "Give Daddy tiss?" (all the "k" sounds come out as a "t" right now) Of course, my heart melted, I smiled, and scooped him up so he could lay one on me...and then the thought hit me.

What a picture that is of us with our Father God! Not that we can actually "lay one on Him" (which is kind of a weird thought), but our worship is an expression of love that we choose to give Him...and He chooses to receive it! And--He actually looks forward to it just like I look forward to my son reaching out to me! I think it pulls on His heart strings when we lavish our worship on Him, and He can't resist returning the embrace. After all, He created us to be with Him, so why would He ever turn away?

When my little boy spoke those words, I didn't point out the flaws in his grammar or his approach. I just simply opened my arms and relished the fact that he wanted to love on me. It's that way with God too. We don't have to speak or pray the magic words or sing with perfect pitch. We just come...and find Him waiting there, ready for us to "lay one on Him."

Questions

Father God,

Thank You for the questions that litter my mind. The questions that I'll never be able to answer or explain. Questions that fascinate me, frustrate me, inspire me, and divide me. Thank You for allowing the confusion that sometimes results from my search for truth, because within that confusion, I realize that I'm not meant to know it all. It becomes clear that You, and only You, are the One who has all the answers. And I discover that when I'm with You, I don't have to know it all...because You do, and You love me. Thank You for being as close as I'll allow, and for always being available to me. I know the questions will come and go, but You never will.

Thank You, Lord. Amen.

You Did What?

Yep...we did it. Last Sunday we put together a Letterman-style service called "The Sunday Morning Show." We had the desk, the band, the guests, the monologue, the top 10, and even commercial breaks! We had no idea how it would turn out, but we busted our butts to make it the best we knew how...and it happened! It actually came together impressively well for our first go, and surprisingly enough, touched people's hearts.

I'm sure that there are probably those that think what we did was a waste of a perfectly good Sunday morning, and we should feel guilty for neglecting an opportunity to present Christ. I know I would've not too many years ago. But that's mainly because I had a box that church fit into, where creativity was limited to just a few channels of possibility.

That's what has been so cool about our "show." We've heard a lot of great feedback, not only about how funny it was, but also how meaningful it was. We planned it and prayed that way, but we were nervous as to how clearly the message would come across. Once again, God came through and proved to me again that He does NOT fit, nor belong, in any box.

He's the Creator...why wouldn't He bless creativity?