We had a wonderful morning with Terry Esau. His stories and thoughts were a good spark to our conversation. And lunch with the Esaus at our apartment was a free spirited and free flowing good time. Monica's pecan pie was yummy and I'm not even a real fan of pecan pie!
And yet the day was marred by a break-in and robbery in our preschool offices at some point during the worship service. While very little cash was taken, it once again highlighted our depressing need to increase our church security efforts and awareness. This was particularly scary to everyone who works with children at the church and certainly not the surprise we were looking for yesterday.
How fitting that Day 1 of our experiment would remind us right off the bat that life's surprises aren't always cuddly and affirming. When Pastor Kyle Lake finished praying a "Surprise Me God" prayer at a baptismal service in Texas in November 2005, he grabbed a microphone and accidentally electrocuted himself. While we can argue all day about why God would allow/determine something like that to happen, things like this remind us all that life is often surprising in confusing and painful ways.I'm convinced we regularly don't know what we're asking for when we pray. And so I'm trying to honestly prepare my heart for anything in this month of "Surprise Me God" prayers. It is one thing to academically say we long for God to surprise us and reveal Himself dramatically to us. It is entirely another when the smoke and fire appears on the mountain. It is entirely another when the ground around us begins to shake and even the still small voice of God leaves us trembling.
While eating pizza after class with Dr. Herb Klem from Bethel Seminary years ago, I thanked him for his sense of humor and the way he kept me engaged in a class I wasn't particularly passionate about attending. He got a shocked look on his face and said, "Oh Kevin, the worst sin in the world would be to make Jesus boring!"What a great line! And what a wonderful charge for all of us - live our lives in such a way that we will never, ever make Jesus boring! And yet there's definitely something to be said for boring, isn't there? It is pretty easy to learn to accept boring when the alternatives might be robbery and electrocution.
So with all that in mind, I'm going to splash some water in the baby's face and timidly pray, "Surprise Me God!"
May God wonderfully surprise us all this month!
Amen.
