Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

I shifted the car into drive and pulled away from the parking space. I glanced in the mirror, one more time, catching a glimpse of him as he walked around the corner of a vine-covered residence hall.

It was a moment that we had been both anticipating and dreading at the same time. Our anticipation stemmed from our knowing that this was part of God's plan - a chapter in the story of our son's life.

Actually, the chapter, for us, started last week, when we left to take our son, Brandon to Minneapolis for the start of the fall semester while leaving our son, Justin to begin classes closer to home. Such is a part of life with twins, the scheduled bench-marks of their lives hit simultaneously leaving us feeling like we're wandering somewhere between good parenting and a no-win situation.

Robin and I drove the 800 miles to home feeling that mixed emotion - neither of us knowing how to put into words exactly what we were feeling. We are excited about the lives unfolding before our sons and at what God will do through them in the future.

Most parents who have experienced this time of life, probably would find our newly recognized maladaptation to the start of the empty nest syndrome, humorous. I've even questioned myself, wondering if our connection with the twins is somehow unhealthy. Unhealthy or not, this is a time of adjustment for us.

We are comforted by the words in Psalms 127:3-5

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate."

Robin and I watch as the first two parts of our heritage prepare to impact this world for the God that we have taught them to serve.

What?

I drove past a church sign yesterday. On it, were these words.

"In order to be loved, one must be lovable."

Immediately, my mind raced, trying to comprehend the meaning of the words and then reconcile those same words with the teachings of Christ.

I thought of a verse in Proverbs. When read in the King James translation, it reads...

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly:

and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
Prov 18:24 KJV

It's possible that this verse served as the inspiration for the words on the sign. However, substituting the words friends and friendly with the words love and lovable, results in an entirely different meaning. A meaning that is sadly apparent throughout the church.

I look back into my own life. There were many times during which I was un-lovable. But God showed his love for me, not only through Christ's sacrifice, but through his people. They chose to love me, as I was.

Too often we, as the church send a message to the world saying, "We will love you if: you look like us, dress like us, act like us and smell like us." Nowhere is that attitude found in Christ's teaching. We may even feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give money to the poor and "allow" someone of lower status to attend "Our" church. But, do we love them? When you see someone who is lost and in despair, the addict, the homeless, the businessman who is working so hard at the expense of his wife and family or the neighbor next door, does your heart break for them? Are you moved by Christ's love for them?

Consider this...

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Rom 5:8 NIV

We, as humans, would not have been considered, by many, "lovable" when Christ gave his life for us in the greatest act of love ever. Who are we to declare someone as "un-lovable" when Christ, by example, loved them? It's happening in marriages, families, homes, churches , communities and the world. Love is often only being extended to the "lovable". It's easy to love the "lovable". But Christ placed the command on the believer to love.

What if we loved when our spouse, children, family, friends, classmates, co-workers and anyone else we may come in contact with are not acting "lovable"? What difference would we see manifesting in our lives?

Are you choosing to love today?