Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today I shared my story of the time when we were little boys that a friend of mine hit my hammer with his head! When that happened I knew instinctively that I was in trouble. Maybe him holding his head, crying and running home tipped me off -- but I knew. When I got home that evening I was waiting on dad to get home and see what would happen next. At that point I did what any good son of Adam would do. I hid. That is a great image in the Scripture. When "the man and the woman heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of day, they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Genesis 3:8) They had done something and it seems to me they must have thought, we are in trouble. I hid. When dad got home he called for me and that is when I came out of hiding. That is what happened with Adam and Eve. The Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9) That is when the man came out of hiding. If I had one word to those who find themselves hiding from God today it would be listen. God will call your name. When your name is called come out of hiding. I don't remember what was said to me or what happened. Evidently something took place because to this day I have not hit anyone else in the head with a hammer! I used that in the context of our Wesleyan Way of Salvation. There comes a moment when we realize "we are in trouble." We hide. God calls our name. We come out of hiding. Our life is changed. The good news is that we come out of hiding, step across the threshold of justification and new birth, and enter the heart of God. It's been a good day. I trust you've had a good day too. steve