DO IT AGAIN DADDY!

Today I spent my last day of vacation, with my mom, dad, two of my sisters (Amynda & Emily) and two of my nephews (Xander,4 and Asher, 2). We spent the day at the lake and on the boat, because let's face it we're river/lake rats :) I grew up in the water and LOVE IT. There is another story in itself right there, but that is for another time.

Today I had a valuable lesson taught to me by, yep you guessed it, my nephews! God is just incredible the way he teaches us things and lets us learn on our own accord. Unfortunately, for me I generally have to *"learn from my own mistakes". Yet, I enjoy things so much more when I really open my eyes and my heart and just listen to Gods little lessons that he teaches us everyday. Today's lesson was twofold: Have a child-like faith and trust in God. And Secondly, HAVE FUN WHILE YOU'RE DOING IT!

It is very obvious that God delights in our faithfulness and trust we put in him. And often times we as 'grown ups' get in our own way of our own relationships with God. We over think and over analyze things when really God just wants us to K.I.S.S (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!)

While our boat was anchored and we were all relaxing, of course, the boys were having a blast swimming and splashing around. But what the boys most enjoyed was jumping off the side of the boat. At first they were scared to even touch the water let alone take a 'leap of faith' into it. Then, after being told dozens of times "It's okay, I won't let you fall", they would climb up and mommy would steady them, and they would jump as high and as far as they could into 'mam-maw, papaw, auntie Em, or unckie Zack's' arms. And they would hit the water go under for a split second and come up with a HUGE GRIN and just say "DO IT ADIN!"

Isn't that just like us as Christ-followers? We are fearful of what God has in store for us, that we might go under, but when we finally do take that step we realize that we are in Gods hands and he won't let us go under.

I know for me, God is constantly testing me and my faith. And at first I'm scared and I'm nervous and I think to myself 'What if I go under?' 'What if I fail?'. God is there with His arms open saying "It's okay! I'm not going to let you go under!"

Here is the best part...When I DO put my faith in God, when I DO trust Him, when I DO jump: I HAVE SO MUCH FUN!

We need to learn to listen to God, to have an open mind and an open heart so that God can teach us DAILY. I want to become like my nephews and when God says "Jump." I jump. And come up with a huge grin on my face and say "DO IT AGAIN DADDY! DO IT AGAIN!"



*A smart man learns from his own mistakes. A wise man learns from other peoples mistakes.