Oh the whim of a 4-year old! They are less reasonable than a teenage girl, make less sense than a government document, are more stubborn than a pack of mules, and yet they often don't miss a thing.
What should have been simple was not. After eating lunch together, my wife and the aforementioned 4-year old, Jerica, were going to go shopping. Except Jerica did want to go. She made her feelings well known by using the universal sign for obstinate 4-year olds; she fell down on the floor and refused to move.
My wife was trying to get her boots on while I helpfully tuned my guitar. (It had to be done. Out of tune guitars do not sound very good.)
Wife: Put your boots on Jerica. We need to go.
Jerica: I don't want to.
Me: Does that E-string sound right?
Seeing that my wife was struggling, yet not wanting to put the guitar down, I started telling my daughter a story. (I'm sure my wife appreciated this help.) Here's what I told my daughter:
'Once, when I was in prison, I made up a song. It's called Breaking Out. Do you want to hear it?' (Then, without waiting for a response, I started sliding my guitar pick along the low E string, mimicking the sound of a file on a prison bar.)
Jerica, distracted from her crying, asks me, 'Why were you in prison?'
Good jokes are wasted on 4-year olds. However, I was impressed that she did not miss the major details. For her, prison is reserved for bad guys who do things like speed and take toys from their sisters. How could I, her dad, possibly be a bad guy?
Then again, how do we miss the major details in our lives?
Anyone who has been to church longer than 5 minutes knows what I am talking about. Pettiness abounds in the place purposed to dispense grace. Selfishness is found all over when focus should be on God. Pride exists where self should be crucified.
Why do churches exist? Do you remember?
Too often we get distracted by things that simply will not matter. We think they matter. We argue as if they are important. We let these minor details about life separate and divide us. Why?
Because we overlook the obvious.
What should have been simple was not. After eating lunch together, my wife and the aforementioned 4-year old, Jerica, were going to go shopping. Except Jerica did want to go. She made her feelings well known by using the universal sign for obstinate 4-year olds; she fell down on the floor and refused to move.
My wife was trying to get her boots on while I helpfully tuned my guitar. (It had to be done. Out of tune guitars do not sound very good.)
Wife: Put your boots on Jerica. We need to go.
Jerica: I don't want to.
Me: Does that E-string sound right?
Seeing that my wife was struggling, yet not wanting to put the guitar down, I started telling my daughter a story. (I'm sure my wife appreciated this help.) Here's what I told my daughter:
'Once, when I was in prison, I made up a song. It's called Breaking Out. Do you want to hear it?' (Then, without waiting for a response, I started sliding my guitar pick along the low E string, mimicking the sound of a file on a prison bar.)
Jerica, distracted from her crying, asks me, 'Why were you in prison?'
Good jokes are wasted on 4-year olds. However, I was impressed that she did not miss the major details. For her, prison is reserved for bad guys who do things like speed and take toys from their sisters. How could I, her dad, possibly be a bad guy?
Then again, how do we miss the major details in our lives?
Anyone who has been to church longer than 5 minutes knows what I am talking about. Pettiness abounds in the place purposed to dispense grace. Selfishness is found all over when focus should be on God. Pride exists where self should be crucified.
Why do churches exist? Do you remember?
"Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2:12-13Oh, yeah.
Too often we get distracted by things that simply will not matter. We think they matter. We argue as if they are important. We let these minor details about life separate and divide us. Why?
Because we overlook the obvious.
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