Dad and mom met in college on a blind date. (I guess those sometimes do actually work.) It was a group date, and apparently they had the same groupies, but had never met up. Funny how that works. So anyways, yeah they went to this play together. Mom wore an ugly green bow in her hair and dad thought he was set up with a different girl. Note I said they MET on a blind date- they certainly didn't fall in love on one.
So I think a day later my dad wants to hang out at the mall and he thinks "Why not ask that Rebecca girl?" So he did. Mom was pretty excited. Dad says you can learn a lot from taking a date to the mall. Mom said she learned that dad really liked to talk. The whole time.
After that things seemed to fall into place. Dad held mom's hand when they looked at Christmas lights and surprised her by driving an hour out of his way on Christmas just to see her. My grandma says she remembered mom whispering to her "I know he's the one."
Then they got engaged. It had been a month since their blind date.
That is correct, my parents got engaged after knowing each other for only a month. They both do not endorse this.
Don't worry, their life got super great in about a year...:) (April 2, 1995 to be exact).*
So what is the point behind this history lesson? We're getting there.
I would first like to brag that I knew this story from the top of my head. Not once did I call up my mom to ask her a detail on it. And why is this? Because I've been hearing this story since I could ask for it told.
Car rides up to Wisconsin, I would ask to hear the story of how mom and dad met. Because I liked knowing this history of it. In my mind, when I heard them talk about the college days, the days I'm about to encounter, they didn't seem like mom and dad. They seemed like people my age that I'd hang out with.
And when you learn someone's history, you know them more deeply. I've noticed when you date someone, you have to eventually talk about their past. Sometimes that can be a sigh of relief, and sometimes it's rough. But there is no doubt that after those conversations occur you do know the person more intimately. This is with friends, boyfriends, parents, grandparents.
I remember my Grandpa Schmitz once saying, "The older I got and realized my parents were also human, the easier it was for me to love them."
Because you get to know the entirety of the person. Because no one is just who they are standing in front of you. They are also years and years of different sports they've played, friends they've had, trips they've made. History is important.
GOD TIME.
So these past couple weeks I decided to read Joshua all the way through (not something I had previously accomplished.) When asked what I thought of it, I declared the beginning was review of some favorite stories, the middle was extremely boring, but the end really hit me. Because as you read it, Joshua talks straight up about God. (Not that God wasn't talked about before, I mean it is the Bible.) But this was some stuff I'd never heard before. Just a few things I'd highlighted:
the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised. [So be very careful to love the Lord your God.]
You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as every good promise of the Lord your God has come true, so the Lord will bring on you all the evil he has threatened.
But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, he brought the sea over them and covered them.
Going through these, I realized that yes, God is the same today, yesterday and forever, but He also has a history. I've known the stories of Him turning the Nile into blood, making the walls of Jericho fall down, and all the other great stories in the Old Testament. But I never thought of them as HIS story. God's history.
I used to avoid the Old Testament like a plague. I thought it was simply for references. But I'm starting to realize it's much more beautiful than that- they are stories about the way that God acted, and the things He accomplished. It's a way to get to know Him more deeply and intimately.
I don't know about everyone else, but I've noticed that when a friend starts to tell you about their history, where they are from, it is almost an invisible trust line they've let you cross over. You've gained their love.
But God's history is freely given to us. Kinda like His love.
I don't know, it just kind of amazes me.
I think there's a reason "to know Him" comes before "to make Him known". You can't introduce somebody to someone you've never yourself took the time to meet. And once you do, you'll only be able to introduce them as well as you've gotten to know God.
We have a beautiful opportunity to know Him more deeply. We've had it actually. It's just a matter on when we take the time to use it.
Live without pretense. Love. Drink more water.
A. Diez.
*For those of you who don't know...this is my birthday. ;D
