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| Bethel Baptist Church |
I had spent so many sweet, sweet hours at the sanctuary...I looked out at the empty room. I'd come early mornings alone, prayed aloud--and sang out too, and basically, because no one else was there to hear, it was time I had free for "just me and my Heavenly Daddy"...and then I'd curled up on one of the chairs near the windows to read my Bible and write in my journal.
There was that morning I saw a tiny spider on one of the chairs and resisted the urge to squash it. I remember thinking to myself, there would be no way I could love--I mean, really love--a creature like a...spider. And absolutely no way I would let my child suffer a cruel, torturous death at the hands of hordes of spiders for the sake of saving them! UGH! ...And that's just the difference between me and a spider? And the God of Heaven, the Creator of the Universe, did that for me?! I'd found that hard to fathom.
Jesus, when He was 12--His parents had frantically searched for Him--had found Himself naturally gravitating to His Father's House. He must've felt a tugging at His heart to go where He could be with the One He loved most, wanted to pray to most. And He must've been fond of those men He talked with too--they were his friends, friends who longed with starry-eyed wonder after truth strangely elusive of them. And the place that Jesus felt so drawn to and loved He ended up cleansing twice; then turning His back to it, He looked only to His Heavenly Father to guide Him the remainder of his earthly ministry.
Father, no matter how lovely the people You put in my life, no matter how blessed the places You choose for me; help me, as Jesus did, to always seek Your Face first and foremost.
