The Plumbline

  So he got up and returned to his father. The father looked off in the distance and saw the young man returning. He felt compassion for his son and ran out to him, enfolded him in an embrace, and kissed him. (Luke 15:20) I was struck with a thought this morning about the father. The father never gave up on his son, though there was little sign that he had any intention of being 'made right' again. The father never gave up watching, though the road was long. The father never lost the intensity of love for his wayward son. I wondered for just a moment if God the Father was looking with such intensity of love for his Son's return to heaven's realm - if he stood, arms outstretched, heart filled with love, and took Jesus into his embrace. All that Jesus had endured, all he had experienced, not because of his own folly, but because there was absolutely no other way for US to know that same embrace unless he did! We all experience the folly of sin because we are all sinners. ...

I often study the life of David - from boy in the field tending sheep to the ruler of a nation. David had an intimate relationship with God - something quite evident in how frankly he spoke with God and how "free" he was in the presence of God. There is much to be said about having a deep, beyond the mundane, relationship with God. Look at what David reminds us time and time again - God is the one who welcomes, we are the ones who come into that place invited. We aren't interlopers in God's presence - we are welcomed and embraced. You've always given me breathing room, a place to get away from it all, a lifetime pass to your safe-house, an open invitation as your guest. You've always taken me seriously, God, made me welcome among those who know and love you.   (Psalm 61:3-5) David acknowledges that God gives him something we call 'space' - that thing we like to refer to as breathing room - a place of complete sanctuary. Have you ever had a really good...