How can we love big? One staff kid at a former church was the daughter of one of the Administrative Professionals. Though I have permission from her Mom to tell this story, we will call her Addy, so we don’t embarrass this now teenager. The pastors and staff had known Addy from before she was born… I had the privilege of praying for her health, her family and even her eventual salvation at the hospital on the day she was born. All the pastors and secretaries watched each other’s kids grow up and invested in their maturity. We made it a big deal when the kids came to the office. They received words of affirmation, hugs, high fives and candy when they would do something great like get potty trained, do well in school, or be baptized. We encouraged them when they had a bad day. When Addy was about three, she was in the church’s award winning, 5 day a week Child Development Center. I would occasionally go down the hall from my office to the CDC and check on the director and teachers to offer some encouragement, prayer, or just let them know we care about them. One day I was talking with the director in the hall and Addy spotted me from the open door of the classroom. Before the teacher could get to the door, Addy had sprinted out and was headed toward me. One children’s minister I had worked with told me that getting down on a child’s level was a way to let them know you are glad to see them. So, I knelt down to greet her. I was a bit off balance, since I didn’t frequently do deep knee bends, but I thought, surely Addy will slow down before hugging me… nope, she hit me full force with her three year old body, arms open wide, full of joy, in a toddler sprint. She jumped, wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed. I tumbled over like a number seven pin and she was the bowling ball with a healthy topspin, picking up the spare. We both fell over laughing. I felt like a turtle on its back, unable to get up for a moment. The Child Development Director was not laughing so much, it was not something that had ever, and probably would never happen again, in that 3 out of 3 stars Child Development Center… that a child would escape an open door and tackle a pastor in the hallway. I went back to the office and told her mother what had happened. She laughed and said yep, that’s Addy, she loves big! She lives full speed relationally. Wouldn’t it be great if God’s people were all so glad to be with each other, that we gave each other full on topspin-sprint-tackle-hugs? Or the adult relational equivalent to avoid injury and bodily harm? The love Addy felt from her family, the church staff, CDC teachers, the director, church soccer coaches, and her Sunday School teachers is what is she needed to learn and grow. That kind of love is necessary for all of us to learn and grow and mature as humans and as God’s people. Addy was glad to be with those who were glad to be with her. She was glad to know what Christ’s unconditional love was like. She was glad to belong to a group of people who cheered her on. And, though she didn’t always enjoy it at the moment, she was glad when her family, teachers, and friends lovingly corrected her when she was doing something that was not okay. Addy and her family moved to another supportive church a couple of years after the hallway tackle and I learned that she was baptized there about 5 years ago. She had grown in her faith from a simple understanding as a toddler to a realization of what connection with Christ means. She continues to grow in her faith surrounded by people who love her and are glad to be with her.
Faith is between a person and God, but faith is fully lived out in the context of relationships with other people that God loves. Jesus pointed out to His disciples, and lived out in front of them, how important both the vertical relationship with God is, as well as, the horizontal relationships with other Earthlings. The Gospel is not just about what we say we believe, but a healthy relational connection with God and those He loves. Jesus knows that these truths can be easy to forget sometimes, especially when things get difficult and emotions run high. So, He reminds us with these words, “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12 Right now in our world, many of us seem to have forgotten Who loves us and that He "commands" us to love each other. We need to be like Addy and love big… greet people with a tackle hug… well maybe it’s not a great idea to topspin-tackle-hug someone, it may be misunderstood... but we can find other ways to love big... like Jesus does us, arms open wide in a full sprint from heaven toward us, bowling us over so our lives are changed by His big love for us.
Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for us all!
