Monday, February 24, 2014

Will You Catch Me?

There's a great playground in our neighborhood. It features sturdy swings, a pretend fast food drive thru window (ummm...) and, best of all, this slide: Beckett, our toddler has recently come to love this slide. From an initial fear, he is now hurtling down headfirst. Cool. A very necessary rite of passage for a boy. But, there's a caveat. Before he slides down, he must know - he must have verbal assent - that he will be caught at the end of the slide. More than verbal assent, he must have visual confirmation. Yesterday, he slid with abandon but only after ritually asking "You catch me, Daddy?" and needing to see me look up at him from the bottom of the slide and say "You got it, buddy, I'll catch you!" He's willing to take a man-size risk as a little guy, but only if he knows he's going to be caught. This will - at least it should - never end for him. Jesus, speaking of you and me, said "My father has given them to me and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from my father's hand" (John 10:29) Same cry of the heart as my toddler. I want to know my father is powerful enough to catch me. I want to know that no matter what happens to me and those I love that he will never let me go. It's one thing for me to promise it on a suburban playground. Quite enough for the Creator of the universe, the unquenchable, all-powerful King himself to promise it. No matter how steep your slide feels, no matter the risk you think you are being called to run, no matter how fast you may feel you are falling, no matter...no matter... He will always say "Yes!" when you ask "Will you catch me?"

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