"WOULD YOU LIKE AN ADVENTURE NOW, OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR TEA FIRST?" — J.M. Barrie

Man, it is getting harder and harder to write what God is doing in my heart. Probably because the Father is going deeper than I have ever let him. God has been speaking to me about relationship with him these last couple of weeks. Deep, intimate and close relationship. That he wants to be the father that is involved in what his child doing, he wants to love and be loved. Not that he needs it or needs to be but he desires it. He desires intimate, close relationship with me. As C.S. Lewis wrote, "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries: lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." The Lord has been showing me the risk behind his love, that he does not passively love me, but he loves me wildly. God has a habit of showing me what he wants to teach me through round-about ways, so this one he hit home while I was reading through Wild at Heart by John Elderedge. Here's an excerpt of it...

"Most of us do everything we can to reduce the element of risk in our lives. 

We wear our seat belts, watch our cholesterol, and practice birth control. ... 

God seems to fly in the face of all caution. ... God gave us a remarkable choice. 

He did not make Adam and Eve obey him. He took a risk. 

A staggering risk, with staggering consequences. He let others into his story, 

and he lets their choices shape it profoundly.

This is the world he has made. This is the world that is still going on. 

And he doesn't walk away from the mess we've made of it. ... 

There’s the one where the children of Israel are pinned against the Red Sea, 

no way out, with Pharaoh and his army barreling down on them in  murderous fury. 

Then God shows up. He lets the mob kill Jesus, bury him . . . then he shows up. 

Do you know why God loves writing such incredible stories? 

Because he loves to come through. He loves to show us that he has what it takes.

It’s not the nature of God to limit his risks and cover his bases. Far from it. 

Most of the time, he actually lets the odds stack up against him. Against Goliath, 

a seasoned soldier and a trained killer, he sends . . . a freckle-faced little 

shepherd kid with a slingshot. ... It’s not just a battle or two that God

takes his chances with, either. Have you thought about his handling of the gospel? 

God needs to get a message out to the human race, without which they will perish ... forever. 

What’s the plan? 

First, he starts with the most unlikely group ever: a couple of prostitutes, 

a few fishermen with no better than a second-grade education, a tax collector. 

Then, he passes the ball to us. 

Unbelievable.

God’s relationship with us and with our world is just that: a relationship. ... 

But God does give it, again and again and again, until he is literally

bleeding from it all. God’s willingness to risk is just astounding—far beyond 

what any of us would do were we in his position. Trying to reconcile God’s 

sovereignty and man’s free will has stumped the church for ages. ... 

Nevertheless, there is definitely something wild in the heart of God."

Now loving Father the way He loves me is the question...