I was in the middle of a choir tour with a bunch of city kids when I got to see a little of who Sara was and it left me wanting to get to know her more. I was 19, in charge of a bunch of kids who were precious enough to make you lose your heart in an instant, but human enough to make you want to rip your hair out a minute later. In the middle of that at the time I needed it most, Sara spoke truth. Truth that I needed. Truth that changed my experience on that trip. A day or two later she spoke truth into my life about probably the biggest problem I have had in my life to date and still struggle with. My problem of being a yes man. She was pretty to look at, fun to be around, loved beyond compare, and understood me and wasn’t afraid to tell me what was up. I needed to get to know this girl!!!!
When I first decided that I wanted to get to know Sara, I didn’t want to go read about her, study her life, talk to people who knew her, no way! I wanted to start a relationship with her and get to know her for myself! I wouldn’t be satisfied with only knowing about her, I wanted to actually know her.
For the last year and a half of my life that has been my one desire, the one thing I have wanted. To know God. To know him for myself. To know what he is like in a day to day relationship. I don’t want to just read about him, I don’t want to just talk to others who know him, I don’t want to know about him, I want to actually know him for myself. I want to experience him and what it is like to be his friend and someone he talks to. David knew him that way. He wrote about him all the time like he was his friend and he knew him. Moses talked to him like a man talks to a man, friend to a friend. Abraham did. So did countless others. I want to be one of those others.
If you know me, you know I got to know Sara and didn’t just read about her, or just talk to people who knew her, but I got to know her and every day I am getting to know her more! Yes, I am a lucky man to have her in my life and be in the kind of relationship that I can call her my best friend. That happened because I wanted a relationship with her and did something about it.
That’s what I am doing with God. I want it. And I am doing something about it. In fact, I have been for a while. And I am getting to know him in that personal, experiential kind of way. It takes time to build a relationship with someone. I’m finding it is the same with God. It takes time, but the longer it goes, the more I am getting to who he is. I love hanging out with him. I actually don’t hang out with him out of guilt, or to check the “devotions” off of my to do list. No siree. I don’t hang out with Sara out of guilt or to check it off my list. Why should my relationship with God be different? I don’t hang out alone with God every day in the normal quiet time, devotional time, or whatever name it is given. I wish I did. I am just being honest. I don’t hang out alone with Sara everyday either. I wish I did. The race has made it even harder to get alone time with Sara. The key is I want to be with Sara and as often as I can I do. It’s the same with God. I want to be alone with him, and as often as I can I do. And when I really want something, I actually do it.
My team (especially Kat) thinks it’s funny or cute or something that every time I introduce myself to a church or a group of people, I proudly point out Sara and say that I am the lucky man who has been married to her for over 9 years! Yes, I am proud to call her my wife and best friend, and I should be. Who isn’t who marries that far above his grade? J But even more than having Sara in my life, I am wildly blessed to have God be my personal and very real friend and father. It has completely changed my life. And I am terribly excited to get to know God even more as I get older. Speaking of getting older, tomorrow is my last day to be 30 J Yep, I’m getting older. But it’s all good, I’ve got God and Sara and that just means I’ve been with both of them longer than ever!
