Realizing Relationship

I am convinced that God is speaking all the time.  He spoke the world into existence and simply Is.  And, I am also convinced that all too often I simply am too distracted to hear.  Nevertheless, He speaks and, miraculously, on occasion I hear Him. 

Today was like that.  I might not have noticed but it was the message of the day for Bryan Riley, and, as I lay in bed tonight, even though it was after midnight, I was compelled from my bed to this seat that I might sort out these thoughts.  (As I ponder it more it was the lesson of the week, at least, but I simply cannot make this a chapter long post so I will leave out other supporting stories.)

This morning our Sunday School class did an amazing thing; some might say we did something emergent in our following Jesus today.  We dropped our children off at church and went a couple of blocks down the street to this fabulous coffee shop on Dickson Street called Common Grounds. 

None of this is really that amazing but what was worthy of telling was that it was 33 degrees and raining.  All weekend long we have been under an ice storm warning.  As Oklahoma just fifty miles away was being buried under inches of ice, we were spared but were constantly being warned that our rain could turn to ice any moment.  I can’t speak for you, but my experience with church going and bad weather is that the two do not go together.  But guess what?  Nearly every member of the Sunday School class was there.  And, in that moment, seeing that, God spoke to me.  It wasn’t a message that said “Have church in a coffee shop and the people will come,” or, “If you build it, they will come.”  It was much better than that.

You see, our class didn’t meet over the holidays, and this was the first scheduled class since before Christmas.  The message I heard was that people long for relationship.  And, in spite of all our clamor for a castle like home and our stubborn independence, we long to be with other people.  It is a God-given quality for those of us made in His image. And, that is to His glory and honor. 

The message came again later in the day.  This time it was in the form of my children.  We were visiting with some old friends, Robby & Katie Bader, who were generous and kind enough to call us and invite us to dinner tonight.  We visited too long and had too much sugar and it affected my two boys in ways that Tara and I did not appreciate.  As a result, as we went home, we prepared the boys for the fact that not only would they be disciplined when we arrived at home but we also would not tuck them in, pray with them, or otherwise do our normal nighttime routine. 

They were devastated.  And so was I.  God again told me about relationship.  How I long for it.  How it hurts to feel alone.  After a little time had passed I couldn’t help myself and I went in and lay with Keaton in his bottom bunk after caressing Tanner’s hair where he lay on the top bunk.  All I could do was pray silently and lie there, enjoying being in their presence even though Tanner was almost asleep and Keaton was asleep.

I dozed for a little while before getting up to ready myself for bed.  Tara had napped earlier so she was full steam ahead working on the house.  I was tired so I told her I was going to bed, but once I was in there I knew again I didn’t want to just go to sleep alone.  I turned on the TV and Forrest Gump was on.  I can’t believe it has been 12 years since I first saw it.  It came out the same year Tara and I were married. 

The scene that was on was when Forrest has just returned from “Vi-yet-NAM,” and he is pushed into a line of people who are going to speak at a huge peace rally around the Mall in Washington DC.  You may recall he is pushed to the microphone and asked to speak about being in Vietnam but the wires are pulled just as he begins speaking and repaired only as he is finishing with “and that’s all I have to say about that.”  He then is announced as Forrest Gump and you hear a female voice from across the mall screaming “Forrest!”  It’s his childhood best friend and sweetheart, Jenny, who has rushed out of the throngs of people into the water and is running toward the stage.  Forrest jumps off the stage and enters the water with her.  They meet in the middle and embrace.  Not only does Forrest think out loud about how incredible that moment and day is (all through relationship), but the entire crowd of hundreds of thousands of peace protesters all begin cheering wildly.  Why?  Because they yearn for the relationship they are seeing.  The throng was without an identity or a relationship except around the idea of peace and no more war in Vietnam.  Two people coming together in love and joy, however, was worthy of all their praise.  (If you remember the movie, Forrest, with his childlike understanding of life, teaches many lessons we all would do well to learn.)

It’s not too much later in the movie when Forrest goes and buys the shrimp boat that results in Bubba Gump fame.  One day as he is motoring in to the bay he looks over and Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise) is on the pier.  Rather than docking his boat, can you remember what he does?  He dives overboard and swims straight to Dan in all his excitement over seeing his old friend and Lieutenant.  It reminds me of another story.

Gosh, I’ve gone on a long time and all this to be reminded of the fact that God loves me and longs to have a relationship with me.  He loved me so much that He sent His only Son to live and die for me.  He loved me so much that He did all of that even when I was undeserving of such love.  And, He calls me His friend, His son, and He lets me call Him my Father.  Can you imagine what it felt like to have Jesus say this to you?

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Oh that I would obey this command and focus more on loving others and less on letting differences be wedges that prevent real relationships from being a part of my daily life.  Why o why do we let Satan convince us to try to do this thing called life alone?  And, when will we live in the reality that as Christians we belong to one another?