Big Guy sightings...

Something occurred to me this week that I thought was worth remembering. Janet stood up and told a story that 10 years ago probably would have preceded an eye-rolling of such holy magnitude that you'd call a priest to come and exorcise me.

But today--I'd have to say my perspective is a little bit different. A little bit... changed.

...

My pastor has told the story in several different contexts before. He and his brother, Lynn, went out fishing one night. They were on a boat in the middle of some lake in northwest Iowa, and the sky was open and clear. Lynn, who'd gone off to college and come back "all fired up" was ready to talk. Jay must have been in middle school or high school. I don't really remember. But he cites being very affected by Lynn's new passion.

He tells us that he prayed a prayer, asking God to show Himself in a very specific kind of way. To answer the question: "Are You out there?" And he says that God showed up that night in a definitive way and that it changed the direction of his life forever.

He's very good at telling stories. He's got good timing. I love it when he tells that story because every time, I wonder... will he tell us?

And every time---"Now, I'm not going to tell you what I prayed for, or what I saw, but... "

Seems kinda counterintuitive, doesn't it? But I think I understand why...

...

I think it all has to do with how big you think God is. Or has to be to still BE God. Or how small you'll allow Him to be.

Ever thought about that? We have no problem accepting a larger-than-life God who is sovereign and transcendent. But we have to cognitively *allow* God to get small. To become real to us.

...

So Janet's story was simple. They were out on vacation, her and her family. They were fishing on some empty lake, and just catching nothing. So, if I remember correctly, her daughter says something like "I wonder if this is what the disciples felt like that one time they didn't catch anything ALL night." And Janet, not to let a teachable moment slip by, suggests that they pray for fish.

Ridiculous, eh?

Within 10 minutes, she says, she and her husband have quit they fishing poles because the 2 children are pulling in fish after fish after fish. . Right??? She says the fishing was like that every night after for the rest of their trip. Crazy? No-coincidence. Except here's the thing. Faith like a child.

I've never seen a person healed. That I am aware of. I've never spoken to an angelic creature. That I know of. But I've seen some stuff. I've seen coincidences that were too coincidental to actually be coincidental. All you have to do is allow the possibility that God actually *wants* to be visible in our lives. When I started to look, I started to see. I still struggle to allow God to work in such unimpressive circumstances. I think I've insulted God more times than honoring Him by failing to recognize the favor He'd poured out on me by "aligning" things just so.

I say look for the coincidences. Look for the small blessings. I say let God make Himself visible in the minutiae. The thing I keep thinking is that I have to allow Him to work in ridiculous places.

What's a God like YOU doing in a place like THIS?

...

I would tell you some of the most recent sightings of the Big Guy, 'cause He keeps showing up. Can't seem to shake Him. But I'm afraid you might start rolling your eyes.

Maybe next time I'll tell the story with a better, more detailed ending... you never really know...

A New Life---

I have a new daughter. It was a fantastic day. Witnessing a new life begin is always traumatic somehow-it causes waves to ripple out as the world changes one little girl at a time. I experienced a wonderful thing as she was born: pleasure. It was pleasing.

I felt what can only be described as a cacophony of emotions-and I can only really claim a small fraction of those feelings as being for myself, strictly speaking. Oddly enough, the strongest feeling I had was a sympathetic feeling for--well really WITH, my wife. I felt her pleasure at completing a trial-really a series of trials, culminating in this ultimate effort. She was so immensely satisfied because she wanted very badly to be done with the discomfort of pregnancy, but also because she knew there was a whole lifetime of new kinds of joy to be had.

I celebrated alongside her, because I knew how anxious she had been, when the midwife told her that there would be no stitches, and that her recovery would be swift and strong, and prompt.

I celebrate with her now, as I hear her say our baby's name over and over. She relishes the way the name floats out of her mouth, the way you might enjoy a butterscotch candy on your tongue. She plays with it, adding sounds, tagging it with new little endings, trying on new nick names, new special little names that she and the baby might share for the rest of their lives.

My wife adores her children. Two of them are boys, and will in time fall in love with another woman. On the one hand, she looks forward to seeing them grow up into mature men, and experience that love for another person that she and I know. But she also knows that this love will shadow her relationship and position in the lives of her two boys. She will go from being the Sun, to being the moon, and then as their families grow, she will become a distant planet, burning brighter than stars, but distantly, and periodically.

Now she has a girl. This girl will not leave her the same way her boys will. But this little girl will likely leave me, though, the way, the boys will leave their momma. There is that sorrow in an otherwise magnificent and beautiful week. But I will not dwell on that today.

She is immensely beautiful though, and I will make certain that she knows that. I will make sure that every person in her life knows that. And she will grow up into this beautiful sinister world. I can't wait. But I suppose, yes---I will.

I never would have anticipated this life. I certainly wouldn't have chosen it on my own. But I'm loathe to exchange it for anything else.