A.W. Tozer
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Psalm 40:3
Today, as I work, I am watching the back wall of the Randy & Rod Halvorson Re-Creation Center go up. The crane is lifting the massive steel beams into place and it is amazing how beautiful the new building is becoming. It is a dream becoming reality.
When our family spends time together, we enjoy talking about what it will be like when Rey and Elise’s baby is born in August. What does he look like now, what will he look like when he’s born? Will he have Rey’s wide smile and Elise’s determination? Becoming a grandparent is such a time of discovery! All of us speak up when Elise is around, knowing her baby can hear us and hoping he will become accustomed to our voices. Jackie and Elise told me that the baby must really be accustomed to my voice with all of the sermons he has heard. I try to get Elise to watch basketball, hoping that it will help make the baby a sports fan. Jackie has picked up the hobby of constantly scavenging for baby paraphernalia and I don’t think she can pack one more thing into our garage! No wonder they call it a time of expectancy.
I think many of us feel somewhat like that about our new recreation center. What is it going to be like? Wow – it will change our lives! What a blessing to the community. Is this all really happening?
But the same thing is true of our relationship with God. As Tozer put it, we have a tender, personal experience with God but it is a paradox because there is still so much we don’t know, so much to be learned. And the not knowing about God is sunshine to the heart! It is positive expectancy about life and faith. I suggest to you that this is a great way to live.
It is like this, you live in this room, and you’ve lived there for years. It’s comfortable because you know everything in the room so well that there is a large element of what we shall call, boring. And in the room is a button. It is a little bit scary, and a little bit exciting. No, it is not the “Easy Button” in the Staples commercial, but it is a big button and this button is marked “Surprise!” I suggest to you that the surprise button is God. It is God unleashed. God in an authentic uncontrollable relationship with you and therefore your relationship with life.
I pray that God represents surprise in your life this week!
When our family spends time together, we enjoy talking about what it will be like when Rey and Elise’s baby is born in August. What does he look like now, what will he look like when he’s born? Will he have Rey’s wide smile and Elise’s determination? Becoming a grandparent is such a time of discovery! All of us speak up when Elise is around, knowing her baby can hear us and hoping he will become accustomed to our voices. Jackie and Elise told me that the baby must really be accustomed to my voice with all of the sermons he has heard. I try to get Elise to watch basketball, hoping that it will help make the baby a sports fan. Jackie has picked up the hobby of constantly scavenging for baby paraphernalia and I don’t think she can pack one more thing into our garage! No wonder they call it a time of expectancy.
I think many of us feel somewhat like that about our new recreation center. What is it going to be like? Wow – it will change our lives! What a blessing to the community. Is this all really happening?
But the same thing is true of our relationship with God. As Tozer put it, we have a tender, personal experience with God but it is a paradox because there is still so much we don’t know, so much to be learned. And the not knowing about God is sunshine to the heart! It is positive expectancy about life and faith. I suggest to you that this is a great way to live.
It is like this, you live in this room, and you’ve lived there for years. It’s comfortable because you know everything in the room so well that there is a large element of what we shall call, boring. And in the room is a button. It is a little bit scary, and a little bit exciting. No, it is not the “Easy Button” in the Staples commercial, but it is a big button and this button is marked “Surprise!” I suggest to you that the surprise button is God. It is God unleashed. God in an authentic uncontrollable relationship with you and therefore your relationship with life.
I pray that God represents surprise in your life this week!
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