An Ode To My '96 Buick Regal

1 Samuel 16:7 (NASB)
"...For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

I loved my 1996 Buick Regal.  I loved that it looked like it's either a car that a pastor would drive or a car that a gangbanger would drive by in.  I like to think that on the inside, I am both a pastor and a gangsta.
I loved that I still had to start it with a key and not a button.  I loved that the suspension was worn out just enough that it bounced like I was navigating medium chop in an old speed boat.  I even loved that on long road trips, I felt the need to carry every possible car fluid imaginable to keep the engine running for the full trip.
The biggest reason I loved my 96 Regal so much was because it had a story.  I bought it in 2006 from a friend's dad who was selling his grandmother's car.  It was the classic "grandma car" story because it was ten years old and it only had 23K miles on it.  I paid 3K cash for essentially a brand new car.
A few years later I rear ended another car and did some minor damage.  Because of the car's age, my insurance company decided to total the car so my insurance company gave me a check for $3300.00.  I went to a friend's garage and I paid him $300.00 to fix my 'totaled' car..and BOOM I was driving a free car and I drove it until we moved to Tennessee and I had to trade it in for something with a working air conditioner.
Most people would look at my car and it's peeling clear coat skin with hidden disgust but I saw it with smiling delight because I knew it's story.
I think that's how God sees us.  He knows our story and so all the scars and blemishes that most would look at with judgement and disgust have become delightful and even beautiful to Him.  The things about us that the world sneers at are often the things that God proudly smiles at because we are His and He knows our story.

SHOES OFF

Exodus 3:5

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

When we keep our shoes on, that usually means that we're not staying long. Even my oldest son understood the nature of shoes when he was only two. I had popped my head through through the door into his bedroom to see what he was up to. At the time, I was a new father and by nature, a very distracted guy who was not real good at the whole "daddy" thing yet (and I still haven't arrived). I was just wanting to check in on him and was probably also trying to relieve a guilty conscience because I had not spent a lot of time with him that day. But two year old Braden called my bluff. "Daddy, take your shoes off! Sit down and play with me." I can't effectively communicate how those words sounded coming out of a two year olds mouth but in all of their infinite cuteness they struck me with the force of a cuddly sledge hammer. I knew what my boy was saying. He was telling me that a "fly by visit" was not enough and as long as I had my shoes on, I wasn't there to stay. My initial response was to go to my room and weep because he had ripped my heart out with his tender request but instead I did exactly what he asked. I took my shoes off and sat down and played with my son for a long time.

As I have thought about my sons precious words, I think he was speaking a great truth about the time we spend in all of our relationships including our relationship with God. So many times I find my self "popping in" to say hello to God and to relieve a guilty conscience for not having spent more time with Him and during the short time that I am there, I have my "shoes on" as I am thinking about all of the things that I have to do or places I have to be. As a father, I wonder how I would feel if my son treated his time with me the same way that I had treated my time with Him?

I know that God is God but He is also a father who has made himself vulnerable to His children. In Exodus, God tells Moses to take his shoes off at the burning bush...I wonder if the modern translation of God's words to Moses might sound something like this... "Son, because I'm here, You are in a holy place and a holy moment. Take off your shoes and stay a while? I want to be with you"..