Well, for several years in a row our town was pretty lucky. We had a winning football team every year in high school. And every year the parents had a dinner in the team's honor, and everybody came. I mean, even people who had nothing to do with the football season suddenly showed up: the politicians, the board members, a variety of seemingly unconnected dignitaries. Oh, I'm sure they were there to honor the players.
I approached our local McDonald's manager with an idea for using his restaurant one night. I asked him if he would let our Campus Life group have it for a candlelight dinner at McDonalds. He said, "Well, that sounds creative, but we can't close and just shut the public out. But we can allow you to come in."
Five thousand miles in one month! That's not too bad if you're in an airplane, but that's how far I drove one summer and still often do. (Although I should say my wife does a lot of the driving these days.) But back then I just about ran the wheels off of our van driving from one conference, or speaking assignment, or college trip to another. Let's see, if I averaged 50 mph, that means I drove for 100 hours. Oh, man!
Well, it was a great time, it really was. You know why? My wife was with me. We finally got to be together for extended blocks of time with no phone, no errands to do, no people to take us away. We didn't talk all the time, although we had a lot to catch up on. We probably could have been catching up for about 100 hours. Right?
Sometimes we just played music, or occasionally we would just spontaneously pray about something together. Or a lot of times we just enjoyed the silence or some of the beautiful scenery. And then every once in a while you'd hear the silence punctuated with an occasional comment or just an "I love you." I think my wife spoke for both of us when she described what was so nice about all those 5,000 miles. She said, "It was just so great being in your company; just the two of us."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Just the Two of Us."
You know, relationships need time together and especially times when there's like no agenda. It really enriched me to have that kind of time with my wife during all that driving. There's another relationship that might be a need, maybe desperate need of some "just being" time.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 42, out of the heart of David, verses 1 and 2. "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God; for the living God." And then he asks this powerful question, "When can I go and meet with God?" That's the cry of a believer for the greatest emotional need he has - to be intimate with his Lord. When is the last time you just sat down with Jesus and enjoyed His company? Or do you only see Him when you have a list for Him?
Jeremy was over at our house with his parents, and he'd been downstairs playing. Suddenly he came into the living room and kind of sat down in his Dad's lap, and his Dad liked that. His Dad kind of wrapped his arms around him, started to cuddle him, and Jeremy didn't settle down; he just kept wiggling. He looked up at his Dad and he said, "Daddy, you know I'm not sitting here just because I want to be with you." Great! Yeah, he needed something.
Wow! How often is that me with my Heavenly Father, or you maybe? In fact we say, "Well, I'm not here just because I want to be with You; I've got my list. I need something." But you're growing up as a child of God when you want to be with God just to be with God. You say, "Ron, I don't really feel that way yet." Well, that's okay. Tell Him that. Ask Him for the desire for His company; this passion that David had just to be with Him. "When can I go and meet with God?"
We have the indescribable privilege to cuddle in the lap of the King of the Universe; to call Him "Daddy"; to let Him comfort our battered emotions; to speak new ideas and insights into our quiet heart. He can't do that while you're talking to Him. To be real, real close, you can't just run in and run through your "pleases" and "thank yous" and then run out. You can do all that, but then stay a little longer.
I think you and Jesus will feel the same way about it. It's like my wife said, "It was so great just being in your company, Lord, just the two of us."
I can still remember my wife's excited phone call that day. She said, "Honey! The baby just turned over!" Hey! He was three months old; it was a big deal. I mean, he's had a whole lot of birthdays since then, but I mean at that time it was a real milestone. It's hard to believe isn't it there was a time you couldn't turn yourself over? Can you imagine there was time you couldn't walk by yourself? You couldn't feed yourself? You're probably doing pretty well at those things now.
Don't you love it when someone gets a little smile on their face and they say, "We were just talking about you." Your mind starts racing, and you think, "What were they saying about me?" When they say that to me, I usually ask, "Oh, do I get a chance to defend myself?" You know that people talk about you when you're not around. That's true for just about everybody, and you've heard how folks talk about other people when you're there. So you have every reason to believe that they talk about you, and it might not be your better side. I know someone who's been talking about you, and it's definitely for your benefit.
There are many ways to prepare food for dinner. You can bake it, boil it, fry it, simmer it, or as we've discovered in the age of radiated ravioli, you can nuke it. Yea, microwave, the ultimate symbol of the too-busy-to-cook generation! Actually, they do come in handy when your stomach is growling and your time is short. Microwave ovens cook some things better than others, of course. Maybe you've had the appetizing experience I've had on occasion. Your dinner comes out nice and warm on the outside, but cold on the inside.
I woke up my kids early that morning to get the view from the top of the mountain. We were vacationing in Maine, and I was told that Cadillac Mountain, which was not too far from there, was the place to go - to be able to see the sunrise as early as you can see it. So, I thought that it was a good thing for our family to do.
My car started this morning. You say, "Big deal." Well, it is; it starts every morning no matter how cold it is or how wet it is. That's especially good when you realize the old girl's got, you know, something like 150,000 miles on her. I don't have nearly that many miles on me, and I'm having increasing trouble starting in the morning myself. Actually, all our cars have been like that since we began in the ministry many years ago, and they keep working. And I don't credit the automobile company with it; I credit the manufacturer - no, the manufacturer.
On the Sunday before Easter, my pastor was talking about the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And my mind wandered (that's never the pastor's fault) to a horse that I met one day in Texas.
One time Andy told me about the worst Christmas he ever had. Oh, he'd always had a hard time waiting for Christmas morning. I think most kids do. He felt that Christmas Eve was the longest night of the year just waiting. But there were a lot of long nights before then. And he was a little unsure of that Santa Claus business, and didn't quite have all that figured out.
