Ho-hum. That’s how I felt yesterday… I knew what my list had on it to get done. I’d need to gather the church directory pictures, touch up Wednesday’s lesson for the high school students, find the energy for our weekly staff meeting, continue ferreting through my newest prized possession (even if only on loan from the UT library): a book on Giordano Bruno & The Geometry of Language.
My first clue that I was missing God’s best for me came when Martin arrived for staff meeting. On this particular day, I was un-bathed, unshaved, and even running around the house with hair un-combed. My hair stood erratically on my head, giving Martin a few uneasy pauses as we conversed. Finally, he turned and said, “You look like Jack Nicolson with that crazy hair.” My mind immediately conjured up images from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. That about describes the way things were unfolding.
Later that day, a friend asked a pretty simple question – “How do you relieve stress when you’re bound up?” I named of couple of the usual outlets, but forgot a really important one:
PLAY.
I really like to play. I don’t just mean computer games – that kind of play is often about finding new challenges to overcome in a virtual gaming world. I mean playing in a way that is completely, unashamedly childish. That relieves my pressure valve... dodge ball, charades, 4-Square… playing! It’s probably one reason I love youth ministry and young people so much.
Mike Yaconelli asks a simple question in his book Dangerous Wonder: “What if our strategy to win the world was to ‘play’ people into the Kingdom of God?” What if an underlying church motto was, “The Church that plays together stays together?”
He goes on to tell the story of a family he knew once who were on the verge of losing their teenage son to an overwhelming darkness and defiant rebellion. As issues emerged in counseling, one day the counselor suggested that the couple go home and call for a ‘parent-kid’ conference in the kitchen at 8:00PM. He said that they should expect the usual moaning and groaning from their son, expect him to make every excuse not to show up, but when he does finally make it to the kitchen table for the meeting, look him squarely in the eye and tell him that you are counting to one-hundred. He has that time to find the best hiding place he can in the house. The family did this and ended up playing hide-and-seek for two hours.
Talk about releasing the pressure valve. When you love as deeply as these parents obviously did, you will try anything to share that love – even play a childish game.
Tonight, we’ll darken the Grove Theater and play hide-and-seek for a while with our teenagers. Sure, we’ll have a lesson on Jesus about seeking Him first, straight out of Matthew 6:33. But what do you think they’ll remember the most? And where will they feel most loved? And where will I feel most alive? And where will that ultimate game of spiritual hide-and-seek be played... that place where we discover we’ve been hiding from God's joy all along... where's it going to happen?
Probably in the thrill of a childish game; at least we can rest assured that seeing the Kingdom of God is very, very difficult without becoming like a little child. Jesus said so Himself. I'm going to have some fun tonight...
Have you played today?