Picking Chelsea Up From College

For weeks I looked forward to seeing Chelsea again and picking her up from college. I counted down the time …2 weeks left, 1 week, 5 days, 3 days, I leave tomorrow, you get the idea. I imagined a squeal of joy (I’m not sure if it would be from me or her) and her running to greet me and we hug as a Dad and daughter who have been separated far too long from each other should. 

Too bad we’re not always that way towards our time with The Lord, whether it’s our quiet time or worshiping Him at church. “It’s Friday and in 2 days I get to go to church and worship my King, my Savior, my Lord!” (Psalms 95:3 For the Lord is a great God, a great king who is superior to all gods.) “I’m going to bed now, and I can’t wait to wake up and spend time with Jesus Christ.” How many times while your eyelids start weighing heavily and you’re drifting off to sleep have you even thought about Jesus Christ and having a quiet time with him the following morning? I’m usually thinking about …well, nothing, or maybe “Rats, I have to get up in a few hours.”

What if we imagined ourselves running into church and hugging our Lord. You now we do that …sort of. When we enter the sanctuary and begin singing praise to our Lord (Psalms 98:4 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth! Break out in a joyful shout and sing!) and focus on HIM, we are essentially hugging Him, and saying “I’m so happy to see you!” and He hugs us back and says “I’m so happy you’re here!” It’s the same with our quiet times. When we sit still in His presence and FOCUS on Him, we’re saying the same thing …and so is He (Matt. 28:9 But Jesus met them, saying, "Greetings!" They came to him, held on to His feet and worshiped Him.).

It’s about our attitude. What if Chelsea and I saw each other, and just said “Hey.” No hug, no squeal of joy, no excitement, no counting down the days, nothing, nada, zip, zilch. We wouldn’t have much of a relationship. Maybe the excitement and enthusiasm don’t have to be an outward demonstration, but they need to be there somewhere. Even if it’s inside it’s still our attitude. Sometimes that’s the way we greet our Lord at church or in our quiet times (Mark 9:15 When the whole crowd saw Him, they were amazed and ran at once and greeted Him.), and sometimes we don’t even greet Him, not even a “Hey” …how sad.

So the next time you enter church greet your friends and talk with them (1 Thess. 5:26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.), but remember the Lord is there and wants to greet you too …with excitement (Luke 15:20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him.) because He’s so happy you’re there and He's excited to spend some time alone with you during the week!

Psalms 81:1 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength! Shout out to the God of Jacob!

Luke 24:52 So they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple courts blessing God.

Love You,
Dad