Between Bend and IAH

I took a pre-Holy Week trip to see my son and his wonderful family in Bend, Oregon.  Being with them is always bliss, and I got a lot of very good grandma time with Austin Jack.

While I was there, I gave my son, Jacob, his star from the Sixty Star Project.  Giving Jacob his star was for far more than the gift of having him as my son.  Jacob's life has been full of blessings as well as blessings in disguise, and I am in awe of the kind of man, father, and husband he has grown up to be.

As I watched him be an extraordinary father to his son, I was reminded of all that I have learned by observing him being a son. Our family had become inactive in church when I became pregnant with Jacob.  Because I didn't want to be the kind of family that only shows up on a baptismal Sunday and is never seen before of after, it was in anticipation of his baptism that we returned to church.  It was in returning to church to be a good parent for Jacob that I heard my own adult call to serve God as a leader in Christ's church.

I am also very mindful of all that I learned about my own relationship with God, our Heavenly Parent (more than a Mother and more than a Father; there are no words big enough to name God) by watching Jacob and his father interact.

I can see Jacob in his Oshkosh B'gosh overalls waiting expectantly for his dad to come home from work.  I can picture Jacob running with great joy and delight when he heard the door open and his father come in.  I especially recall that when his father came home, Jacob doggedly followed his dad everywhere he went and never let him out of his sight.  Like any little boy, whatever his dad did, Jacob wanted to do, too.

Isn't that what we can offer God, our Parent in Heaven?

To wait expectantly for God at all times?
To greet God with wild love and excitement when we encounter God?
To never let God out of our sight?
To model our own actions as a reflection of what we have seen God do, particularly as revealed through Jesus?

As we walk this Holy Week, may we never let God, our Parent in Heaven, out of view.