Playing with God in the rain

The other night at Visions, Mike had felt like God was telling certain people in the crowd that God wanted them to step up their relationship in the New Year. I definitely felt this applied to me. I go through the motions a lot with God, and I try to do all the right things, but, more often than not, it doesn't mean anything. I think we all have a tendency to forget that we do religious things out of duty or obligation instead of doing them because we are in love. God's way of thinking says, "Of course we want to read our Bible, or pray, or worship with believers. God is there and we are in love!" It's a joy because our love is there, not because we want to get religious points with other people, or make ourselves feel better, or even escape the fires of hell. God wants us to be in this adventure of Christianity because we are in Love and Love alone.

This means a lot of different things, but for me it comes to a head in what another friend mentioned from that stage the same night. She had mentioned that when she had started following Jesus, God used to tell her jokes and they used to play outside in the rain. She felt like she didn't have that trust and love any more and she wanted it back. I must confess, so do I. I want the kind of faith that I cannot help but dance in the rain with God.

I felt like the Lord showed me that kind of faith is a choice. This morning, before writing this, I took a walk outside and marveled at the rainy wet cool that is a Michigan winter. To be honest, The snow outside my house is mostly all melted, yet the sun isn't out, forcing that 4 or 5 month transitional period here that isn't quite winter but certainly not spring. It was beautiful, still, because there was life outside and I was beginning to forget what grass looked like. Even though it was bleak and wet and dank and damp, the Lord was there, thawing the world (and, God willing, bringing us an early spring). I think that what I'm trying to say is that we can choose to enjoy God, and that the only thing that keeps us from playing outside in the rain with the Almighty is whether we want to walk outside our front door. He's willing, but it comes down to our choice, not His.

Daniel