‘He has one here?’
May 8, 2010 § 1 Comment
The picture in this post is from my office at the church. Actually it is a beautiful office – corner windows that enable this Miami boy to marvel at snowfall, ample room for too many books, family pictures strewn thoughout, and enough space for well-attended meetings. But at the end of the day it is a room that a typical guy spends a lot of time in – a desk that is perpetually cluttered, a carpet that is often covered with ‘stuff,’ and of course, a basketball and shoes for those moments that thinking and venting take the form of dribbling and shooting. When you put it all together, what this all spells is that this church has a pastor – and he is a human who lives in time and space in proximity to this church.
I offer this because the other day Katherine and our daughter Erin passed the Church of God Executive Offices here in Maryland. When Erin asked what they were, and Katherine informed her, our daughter responded by asking (of God), “He has one here?” Later we laughed.
Later in the week I read the story of Anabelle Hasselbeck, the daughter of Matt Hasselbeck, starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. Recently the Seahawks traded for a backup quarterback named Charlie Whitehurst, a young man with long hair and full beard and mustache. At the dinner table their 8-year-old daughter said, “Daddy, we didn’t have to say grace because we ate with Jesus.”
In each instance I laughed, then reflected, and was reminded that regardless of our ages, we think in terms of God being near – and that’s a good thing. We want Him to be as approachable and touchable as Jesus was when He walked the earth.
The thing is that in this day God has chosen to be touched and seen through His people, the Church. That too is a good thing… and an amazing one when you consider that God would stake so much of His public reputation on broken and unfinished people, such as we are. And yet, the Gospel clearly teaches that this is the condition Jesus gladly took on for our redemption.
So I guess it isn’t so amazing – God delights in us doing in the world what His Son has already modeled – to be a presence – His presence – not only in the corporate offices but also at the dinner table and everywhere in between.
I like that… it means that, indeed, ‘He has one here.’
This is Good News.
peace.
unfinished1 
Thank you for that my friend. Your words seem to bring tears to my eyes often…and that is a good thing! You are a blessed man Mike.