throw in the towel

I love when God reveals truth about Himself to me in common, everyday life. He did that recently with a little game my two-year old grandson, Logan and I play. Its almost routine for us, right after his bath.Its a game we've all played, "hide and seek". Our version goes something like this...we wrap him up in his bath towel and then we start asking, "Does anybody know where Logan is?" We call his name, "Logan! Logan!where are you?" I think, he thinks we really can't find him, I think in his two-year old mind, he actually believes he is hidden from me, so he'll stick out his little foot, just hoping to be found. I acknowledge the foot and grab hold of it," I see a foot! Is this Logan?" Then.. the big reveal,he throws back the towel,allowing full discovery of himself,"here he is!",he yells. That's when he his lavished with love! "Ahhhh! Logan!" and we cover him in kisses, all to his great delight and squealing! Put another way by one of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen, "I am beginning to see how radically the character of my spiritual journey will change when I no longer think of God as hiding out and making it as difficult as possible for me to find Him, but, instead, as the one who is looking for me while I am doing the hiding. Wouldn't it be wonderful to make God smile by giving God the chance to find me and love me lavishly?"
Pull down your towel,and discover that you are worth looking for, that there is a real desire in God to simply be with you, that He already knows exactly where you are and He's ready to lavishly love you, it brings Him great joy!

The strangeness in a moment

Was looking back on a time when I was working for another organization, we had hired an outside consultant, an expert in his field. During his work for us he learned that I identified myself as a "Christian". In one of our meetings over dinner he had questions about that, really he had questions about God and questions about the human condition. He wondered, in particular what I thought about how awful the human race could really be, the terrible things people can do or be involved in. I remember saying to him, "it never amazes me how awful man can be, it amazes me more still that God treasures us and is always ready to restore us, that's what amazes me." Then there was a moment of strangeness as I observed tears welling in his eyes and one drop down his cheek. Turns out there are people all around us who still have not been touched by the grace of the gospel message of Jesus Christ and sometimes...they wear nice suits, have wonderful homes and success in business.