Our son, seven at the time, and we had just surprised he and his sisters with a trip to Disneyland. You can read more about that on another post.
The hours, minutes and even days following the surprise for our boy were like watching an electrician wire a circuit board.
With each moment he remembered as evidence of “the surprise,” we kept hearing “ohhh, so that’s why …” I got the biggest kick out of it! In fact, I still like thinking back to it. And honestly, I had more joy with the ways in which he connected the dots than anything we did.
I joke that over the past few years I become more reformed in my or estimation views as I consider God’s working and weaving both a much larger story than us as well as these minute details of our family (even more specifically Sherry and my) life.
Among the many things include:
The family in which I was born
The time in history in which I was born
The location I came into the world and grew up
The interests, personality and relationships I developed
The decisions my parents made or didn’t that impacted my world in the time they made them
More recently, the same has been true in an eerier way. From college studies to disengagement to moving cross country to ministry and marriage to depression to public school opportunities to seminary to teaching to the pastorate to family dynamics in ministry to hospitalization to restoration to wife’s excitement and pursuit of direction to more bottoming to resignation to pain and identity stripping to baby steps of healing and faith development to humbling opportunities.
Oh, so many details that I connect, yet so many about which I have no clue.
When I think of the comparison of these types of sovereign realizations and Scripture, I can’t quite pull out a verse like Romans 8:28 or Jeremiah 29:11 or even a prophet that points to Jesus. The Torah, writings, wisdom lit, prophets, epistles, and the rest. All of the text makes the gospel work. The light goes on pointing to Jesus as the light but it takes it all to make it complete.
Constantly I find myself saying, “ohhhhh, so that’s why…” like a circuit board’s wires being connected one by one. Like father like son? I hope so.
I want to grant God the same great joy of connecting the dots and thanking Him for the good and bad, for the seemingly positive or negative. And I want to be anything He desires within His circuit board.
I think of the great St. Patrick and his prayer in my desire to point to Jesus– turn the light on–no matter how big or small, good or bad it might seem.
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.