Abiding

I am not a fan of crowds. To be perfectly honest, they scare me. I don't think I've always been this way. But the older I get the less I like to be surrounded by a ton of people.

My students learn this about me right a way each year. There are times when I have 5+ students standing around my desk wanting to ask a question or share a story. I have to just say stop. Go sit down. We'll talk one at a time, but I can't have you all around me at once. They also learn very quickly that my desk comes with an imaginary line they are not allowed to cross.

Our oldest nephew, Tyler, gets a kick out of my fear of crowds. It baffles him, because like his Uncle Andrew, Tyler loves being in the midst of a crowd at a concert.

Whenever Drew and I go somewhere and there is a crowd, I grab onto Drew's shirttail and stick to him like glue. Seriously. I start to freak out if I can't hold his shirt. I trust that he will lead me through the crowd, get us to our destination, and make sure I don't get lost or snatched.

It should be this same way with our Heavenly father. We should grab onto his shirttail so to speak and never let go. My brother-in-law, Cary, shared this illustration in a sermon one time and it just stuck with me. That's been years ago.

Our Heavenly Father will guide us to our destination. He will make sure we don't get lost or snatched, but we have to be willing to hang on and follow. We have to be willing to stay close by.

This week's word for Patter's Scripture Challenge is abiding. When I read her post and saw this word, my layout immediately came to mind. I tried to find a picture of a child holding onto a dad's shirt tail, but I didn't have any luck. I settled on the image of two people holding hands. And the more I think about it the more I like this image better. I think it shows an even more intimate relationship. Intimacy is something I believe our Heavenly Father desires to have with us.

Here is what I ended up with. The scripture I chose was 1 John 2:6. Those who say they live in God should live as Jesus did.