Kingdom Voice

"Don't worry. It will be real quick. I'll be back to get you in no time. I won't ever forget you; I've got your back." -John 14:3 (RSV)

My schedule these days is all over the place. To paint a bit of a context picture you need to know that Davidson College is about 30 miles directly north of the center of Downtown Charlotte. Now, where the Eagles train and play, and where all of my personal goalkeeping training is located is about 25 miles south east of the center of Charlotte. I think you can begin to see the problem. I am actually renting two places right now; one in the Davidson area with my friend, teammate, and colleague Greg. The other is in SoChar (ok, so it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it).

On any given day I could find myself in either or both places. It has been a little annoying at times, but the benefits of both make it worth it more often than not. But as you might imagine it is tough to be in two places at once. I use multiple gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants. In house, I use different silverware, tables, and showers. There have been several occasions where I have woken up and not known where I was.

A remarkably unfortunate consequence of this has been my church attendance. It is a little random because of my training schedules, as I have really adopted Monday as more of my traditional Sabbath day. When I am able, I absolutely love the church I attend in south Charlotte. If you know me, you know that is a borderline miracle. I am an idealist to the core. It explains (though doesn’t excuse) a lot of me. As I wrote earlier, the fact that I am still here and love it says a lot.

Because of my weekend, I was unable to attend church in the south. I chose to go to a church closer to where I was yesterday morning based on the recommendation of another friend of mine. Now, this is no ordinary friend. He actually coaches with me. He used to play for the Eagles. He is just a step or two ahead of where I am at right now. His wisdom and insight have been immensely helpful. He and he wife are just awesome. And his kids are really, really cute.

This particular Sunday Greg and I decided to go to different services. I was looking to be up a little earlier and we both agreed it would just be different to attend alone; get a chance to really worship in solitude.

So I left my place a little early to allow myself time to find the church, and to grab some coffee of course. As I entered the building I looked around for the entrance to the auditorium. I really enjoyed being in a new place where I could walk around without anyone knowing me.

As I turned the corner, there he was. “Heeeyyyy, Sooouuudddddsss. What’s up, buddy?” It was my ‘step or two ahead’ friend with his youngest kid Keegan in hand. I certainly didn’t expect to see him but watched as he dropped off Keegan at the nursery. We went and freshened up our coffee and grabbed a seat in the auditorium.

Now, after all that prep reading you’re thinking this must have been the greatest service ever. There was something so revolutionary that I had to get it up on the blog less than 24 hours after it took place.

Not really.

Great service. I’m a big believer that anytime we really get in the Word, everyone wins. Though there was a larger passage drawn from my attention was particularly focused to James 3:16, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” We’ll save that for another entry however.

As church ended we walked out to grab his kids. As we entered the ‘kids area’ chaos was ensuing as each parent tried to get to the door to grab their kids from their respective classrooms.

What happened next absolutely amazed me.

As we approached the classroom, my friend was talking to me about some soccer stuff. He doesn’t exactly have a quiet voice. We were a good fifty feet away and as I glanced at Keegan’s classroom door, I saw him come around the corner and start to try and climb the fence that separated the classroom from the lobby.

Make no mistake, he had heard his father. He knew that Dad was on his way.

As I looked into the classroom, Keegan wasn’t the only one doing this. As different kids’ parents came to get them they approached the gate, some screaming to get back to their parents. Some tried to climb the fence. Still others tried to squeeze through it. They were going to try and do anything to get into their parents arms.

It’s the simple things, isn’t it? An eighteen-month-old kid revealed to me in a new way a secret of the Kingdom. Jesus tells his disciples this. In John 10, verse 27 he says, “My sheep know my voice.”

We see in other parts of the scriptures that when his sheep hear his voice, they will do anything to get to Him. Many traveled for days. Others crushed through large crowds to touch him. Still others climbed trees just to get a glimpse. There was even a group crazy enough to cut a hole in someone’s roof.

It seems as though when people come into contact with Abba, they continue to search for him, continue to wait for Him. They do any and everything possible to get to him. There is nothing that will stop them from trying.

And what is even more beautiful is that our Daddy does exactly what my friend did yesterday morning…

He calmly went over and exclaimed, “There’s my boy! I missed you buddy!” He reached down and picked him up. He grabbed him and pulled him close.

Dad was there; everything was going to be ok.