Recently, I had the opportunity to
surprise my 11-year-old daughter. It was one of those fun surprises where the
plan was put in place several weeks before without any knowledge on her part.
TobyMac, Brandon Heath, Mandisa, Matt
Maher and other Christian artists were coming to St. Paul, Minn., for a concert
at the Xcel Center. My daughter had nearly memorized the TobyMac CD and had
become a big fan of his music, not to mention loving some of the other artists
as well.
So here we were on a Friday evening,
Valentine’s Day, at 5:10 p.m. She had just come up the stairs in our house, and
I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride, maybe stop at a coffee shop and
hang out. She agreed, as this was something we did on a fairly regular basis.
As we got in the car and started to drive toward downtown St. Paul, she began
to talk. I’m not even sure what we talked about now, but I remember her being
relaxed, eager to see where the night would take us.
As we got closer to downtown St. Paul, the
traffic began to get heavier and the streets more crowded. Yet she just sat
patiently in the car, still trusting in our journey and anticipating what we
would do.
We arrived at a parking ramp and as we
were entering it, I said to her: “Let’s do something different tonight. What do
you think?”
She replied in the affirmative, and we continued
along with our conversation.
We parked the car and began to walk the
several blocks—not to mention the many flights of stairs up from the parking
ramp—to the Xcel Center.
I thought for sure at this point she
would wonder where we were going. Maybe ask me what I had in mind or if we were
getting close to our destination. Nope. She was still happily engaged in our
conversation.
Even the Jumbotron in front of the stadium
that visually and audibly announced the TobyMac concert didn’t raise suspicion.
We just kept walking, almost as if the outside world was just that—outside of
us and having little control over our actions.
We stepped inside the doors of the
arena, and she hadn’t yet questioned my plans, my intent, my ideas for the
night. I just knew that she trusted me.
As we stood inside the doors of the
arena waiting for the gates to open, I looked at her—barely able to hold my excitement—and said, “We’re going to
see TobyMac tonight!” The surprise on her face was exactly the emotion I was
anticipating when I planned this event. She was completely stunned and so
excited that she actually jumped and hugged me.
But that wasn’t the end of the surprise.
After she gathered herself a bit and calmed down, she looked at me and said,
“Maybe we’ll see my best friend here. She has tickets to the concert as well.”
I said we would more than likely see her
best friend at the concert, since we were sitting next to her.
Again, the excitement on her face was
exactly what I hoped it would be.
As I was talking with my wife about this
episode, she pointed out to me the similarities of this experience with how we
should follow Christ in our lives.
My daughter was trusting, accepting of
whatever was planned and secure in what was ahead of her. She didn’t question
where we were going; she didn’t ask if we were there yet; nor did she doubt
that our time together would be fun and even exciting.
She just trusted.
I wonder what would happen if we
approached our relationship with Christ in the same way, with the same amount
of trust, confidence and ease. I have to admit, I’m the person who likes
everything planned out and arranged before I even take that first step. To me,
the unknown is often the fear zone.
But isn’t Christ more loving, caring and
more concerned about our future than any friend, parent or circumstance? If my
11-year-old can trust me without question, how can I not submit that same trust
to the one who created me in the womb?
So the next time God has you on a
journey—as we all are right now—try to relax, engage in conversation with Him
and eagerly anticipate where you will arrive. You will not only be surprised,
but you will also draw closer to the one who knows you better than anyone
else.
