A couple of nights ago, after
we had just put our Dylan to bed, I immediately immersed myself in my
web-browsing-evening-routine. The
excursion was a brief one; however, since not a full minute later, Dylan came
out of his bedroom and started calling me to go to his room to “see
something.” I’m pleading with him to
just go to bed or even just tell me what it was. “Use your words,” I told him,
hoping I didn’t have to get up and “go see.”
He wouldn’t have any of it. So,
reluctantly, I got up, grunting all the way there, hands on my hips, I stood in his doorway
waiting to “see,” only to hear him say, “see mama, that’s the song…that’s your
favorite song that we hear in your radio, in the car, you and me! Remember? See?” Of course I could “see” it. It was indeed one of my favorite songs
playing on the radio, which we leave on tuned-in to the Christian radio station
in his room every night while he falls as sleep. At that moment I realized I had just had a
God moment. Needless to say, I felt
terribly guilty for thinking my boy was being just a pest. I thanked him for “showing” me, tucked him
back in bed and as I walked away from his room, I could hear him trying to sing
along to the tune of “You love me anyway, O how you love me.”
God had used my little
persistent boy to touch me when I least expected it. I was not going through any particularly
spiritual moment at the time. All I was seeking was to sit, chill and relax in
front of my favorite news blogs, check my e-mail and maybe jump into tweeter
too. Nothing grandiose or illuminating,
I was just looking forward to some down time.
His timing is not my timing, but His timing surely is perfect. When He wants our attention, He uses all sorts
of things and situations. He catches our
eye and makes us focus on Him at whatever time is convenient for Him; and He
does it in a way that we have no choice but to look at Him and listen to what
He has to say. All we have to do is leaf
through Scripture and we find example after example of people whose attention
centered on God after He came knocking at the most extraordinary moments and
places.
He called on middle aged
shepherds. Remember Moses? He was tending his father-in-law’s flock
when, there! A burning bush calling out
his name! How about Jonah? God sure caught his attention alright! Jonah refused to do the will of God and God
put him in a “time-out” so he’d have plenty of uninterrupted time to think
about what he needed to do.
In other passages we see our
Lord inviting Himself over to the house of short-little tax collectors for an
unexpected dinner party. “Zacchaeus, you
come down!” Other times He used the
least ideal of circumstances to reveal the most astounding truth. For instance, I don’t think John went to the island of Patmos
God revealed Himself to the
people in the Bible in astonishing ways and at unbelievable locations,
precisely because He knows that the unexpected always catches our
attention. And He is the same yesterday,
today and tomorrow, which means, He still does!
He can and does use anything
and anybody to speak to us. The amazing
thing is that when He calls, there is not much more for us to do than to
listen. Even in the middle of our hectic
and crazy lives, He always finds a way to catch our attention, and it is always
for a good reason. Can we recognize Him
in the unexpected? Can we “see” Him
calling? I bet we can!
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