The Father and the Dance

I'll never forget that Sunday. I was standing on the platform while our church was in the midst of intense worship. When I opened my eyes, I saw my daughter, Corrie Emma, front and center in that sanctuary. She was caught up in the most beautiful display of worship. She was wearing a new dress and her beauty was shining both inside and out. She was dancing for Jesus.
As I watched, everything in me wanted to move from that platform and gather her in my arms and dance with her. Unfortunately, I am not as uninhibited as Corrie Emma is. I just stood there weeping and thinking about how much I loved her.
Before the worship set ended, I heard the Heavenly Father. It was inward, but it was audible. He said, "That's how I feel about you!"
Can you imagine? The Creator of the whole universe has that kind of deep emotion over me! Not just me, but you as well. And He's not inhibited with His love.
Join Him in the dance today.

On Beyond Zebra

Said Conrad Cornelius O'Donald O'Dell
My very young friend who is learning to spell:

"The A is for Ape. And the B is for Bear.

The C is for Camel. The H is for Hare.

The M is for Mouse. And the R is for Rat.

I know all the twenty-six letters like that. . ."

"Through to Z is for Zebra. I know them all well."

Said Conrad Cornelius O'Donald O'Dell.

"So now I know everything anyone knows.

From beginning to end, from the start to the close.

Because Z is as far as the alphabet goes."

Then he almost fell flat on his face on the floor

When I picked up the chalk and drew one letter more!

A letter he never had dreamed of before!

And I said, "You can stop, if you want, with the Z.

Because most people stop with the Z, but not me!

In the places I go there are things that I see

That I never could spell if I stopped with the Z.

I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends.

My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends!"

. . . So on beyond Z! It's high time you were shown

That you really don't know all there is to be known.

Dr. Seuss

In our culture, we are masters at "reduction." We can reduce tons of information into digital bits that are easily manageable. We control words, images and movies. And we can store them on a flash drive that we keep in our pocket! We control everything. . .from A to Z!

Everything except God. The farther you go in engaging Him, the more you must embrace mystery. Even His love surpasses our knowledge (Ephesians 3).

You really don't know all there is to be known. . .Thank God.

Is It Time to Love?

Her name is Jessie and she is everything you would want in a daughter! I absolutely loved having two sons. Besides all the pride and joy stuff, having boys is a built in excuse for Dads to keep buying toys! But when Jessie came, something inside of me changed. I will never forget looking into those deep brown eyes when she was a baby and feeling such tenderness and responsibility.

When she was a a child, almost every day she would pull on my pant leg or tap me on the arm and with a great big smile ask: "Daddy is it time to love?" No matter what I was doing, I would look at my watch and answer: "Jessie, how did you know? It is. . .it's time to love!" And then she would climb up in my lap and squeeze me with a hug until I thought I was going to "pop!" I'm not sure you have ever been officially hugged until Jessie has hugged you. If you have a princess like that, you know that you can't put a price tag on those moments or memories.

I'm learning more about the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. It's so much more intimate than I ever thought before. He feels stronger love for me than I even feel for Jessie, but that love that I feel is meant to be a mirror. Although it is deeper, it carries the same DNA. I want to be as faithful to Him as Jessie was to me. Each day, I want to engage Him.

It's time to love!

"I just fell in love with Him!"

A young Russian girl who grew up under the Communist regime had never been to a church or had never heard of Jesus. She found a booklet that included the Gospel of Luke and after reading it, she became a follower of Christ. A neighbor heard of her new commitment and took her to a secret church. The pastor watched as she worshipped with tears streaming down her face. After the service, he questioned her about her faith. "How did you come to know Jesus?" The pastor asked. The young girl explained about the booklet and then said concerning Jesus, "I just fell in love with Him!"