One of the greatest pranks ever

Many years ago, back in my years of youth/family ministry ('89-2000ish), we had an annual weekend retreat with a few other churches at a nice retreat center.  Like a lot of events like that, there's a lot of fun, food, and just hanging out mixed in with times of spiritual and community focus - singing, listening to talks, etc.

It usually culminated with a large gathering on the last night; everyone gathered together in the gym/big group area for a lot of singing, an emotional-come-to-Jesus-talk, maybe some baptisms or group prayer times, and then hugs and everyone go to bed in prep for a good night of sleep and going home the next morning.

As we wrapped it up and sent everyone to their cabins, we all noticed that there were no lights anywhere except in the big group area that we were leaving.  One by one, people reported that their cabins or houses had no lights.  We checked for power and realized it wasn't an electricity issue, but that there were actually no light bulbs in any of the buildings except for the big group area.

After getting several adults together from each group, we talked through who was and who wasn't at the big group gathering and realized that we had a very short list of people who were missing - one guy who was known for doing interesting things.  He had actually dipped out of the gathering as the sun went down and made his way, building by building and removed every light bulb that was on campus.

This was no small feat. Some light bulbs were with in easy reach, but some required finding a ladder or something to stand on OR, as this guy did, crawling up on the rafters/cross beams to be reached and removed. We confronted the young man, he confessed, we found the cache of bulbs and he received the appropriate level of chastisement from the group and from his personal adults present.

After he left the building, all the rest of the adults gathered there looked at each other in a kind of amazement and finally, openly said to each other aloud that it was actually one of the most impressive pranks we'd ever seen and that we were kind of impressed by the young man's ingenuity, persistence, and work ethic - a true, outside the box level activity that we could never openly acknowledge as amazing.

Well, at least not for a little while.

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Like anyone, I like amazing things: music being performed by my favorite artists, favorite foods prepared and served in an inviting and comfortable atmosphere, compelling stories being told by people who make the story come alive without getting in the way and making it about them, good books or art with time to savor them, a long drive down a picturesque road, loved ones being around and relaxing - to name a few.

As always, amazing things are amazing because they're experienced against a backdrop of not-so-amazing things and thus, stand out. And they're obviously very relative to the observer or person experiencing them since what's amazing to me might be "old hat" to someone else and vice versa.  Nonetheless, amazing things are, well...amazing.  And even more so if they're shared amazing things that you enjoy with others!

In the past few years, some of the most amazing things that have surfaced for me have been things about God, scripture, "church", people, and all things related. Some have been a surprise or shock. Some have dawned on me slowly as pieces of puzzles came together to make a fuller picture. Some have been there all along and I just came to realize their presence.  

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Some examples include:

God is not mad at us. I know it is not a revelation to some, but it was to me. To find out that God's general disposition toward us is not one of anger, violence, or hate was an amazing discovery. I think I realized at some point that those who keep that image out there and alive either don't understand the New Covenant or they need God to be that way for themselves and/or to try to control others.

We don't have any idea of how much God loves us.  Paul, the apostle, said this a lot and talked about much he prayed everyone would understand that we don't have any concept of how much God loves us. It took a lot of years to get this for me. My tribe buried John 3:16 and Romans 8 under "If you died tonight, would you be ready to meet God?" as if we were always a breath away from eternal condemnation.

We're already blessed with everything we need.  Forgiveness, God's Spirit, wisdom, actual help and spiritual gifts given through other believers, our place or reservation with God "in heaven", and a whole lot more - already locked in and not going away ever. It took a long time to realize that some feel the need to "sell" you this stuff or make you think it comes from them in exchange for your money and time. Nope.

A major part of God is now, not just "in heaven" later.  I had no idea about this. Cognitively I knew better, but the walk with God now is amazing in actual experience. He takes away a lot of the fear of things, brings clarity to stuff in real time that I used to dwell on without understanding, changes my wants to things that are more satisfying and lasting, and is just there. And it doesn't remove the mystery of God or make him any less awesome - the "intimacy" for lack of a better word, makes him even more amazing.

Other people don't control anything about how God thinks about me or does for me.  God gives us a lot of blessing or good things through other people, but that doesn't put them "over me" or put me over them. No pastor or church leader has a heaven or hell to put me in or the ability to open or close the flow of God's good things to us. Anyone who says they do are either unaware of reality or are telling lies.

I can talk to God all the time in conversational style words and not "formal" prayer words.  God isn't an Englishman from a couple centuries ago. He's our father and we can talk to him as such - assuming your dad wasn't a jerk when I say that, but instead a loving, Luke 15 kind of dad.  I don't have to "start" a prayer with a formal greeting or end a prayer with "amen".  I can talk to God AND I don't have to say his name and/or say "and Father God" at the start, middle, or end of each thought or sentence.

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I can/could go on with a lot more things and probably will later, but just want to say those are some of the greatest things ever.

I know God took a long time to get me to that point of understanding with a lot of things and I'm amazed and grateful about that too!

Instead of being down about that or frustrated that I "didn't get it earlier", I'm in awe of the fact that he uses time and experience to bring about things in his timing, for his purposes and I can relax about it.

I ask God to keep that good stuff up!  And I ask that he help all the people in my life to see those things too, but then I realize that he actually already is and that I'm just now becoming aware of it. Which is also amazing!

May you be blessed with learning those things too.  I'm excited for you to see some of the things I've been blessed to see.  

Grace and peace in abundance.

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