Invincible

Every Thursday we host a Bible study for high-school boys here at the church. Normally we eat lunch, have a Bible lesson, and then play Halo for a couple of hours before everyone goes home for the evening. This week was different. The weather has gotten warm and so the boys went outside. The boys decided to wrestle in the yard. For the next hour my yard was turned into a wrestling ring. We had one on one matches, team fights, random acts of violence, body slams, kicks, punches, you name it. It was really entertaining.

Throughout the festivities, as the testosterone began to flow, teen aged boy would come my way and challenge me to spar or wrestle. I always politely declined. I was wearing clean clothes and didn't want to get them dirty and there were some big athletic boys in attendance and I didn't want to risk getting my butt kicked in my own back yard.

As everyone was leaving one of the young men, Boulos Shakkour, stepped up to me and made one final challenge. "Come on man, fight me", he said.

I said, "that's alright."

But then something different happened. Boulos said, "You're scared." Normally I would have just blown that off and said something like, "of you??? Right.." But my son, Andrew had walked up and before I could talk he said, "My daddy's not afraid."

"Yeah he is.", Boulos said.

"No he's not", said Andrew.

Listening to this exchange something welled up inside of me. My boy thinks I'm invincible. I like that he thinks that. I know that some day he will see through the illusion and realize that I'm human, but everything inside of me screamed, "NOT ON THIS DAY!" I had to validate my little boy's brags on my behalf. And Boulos would have to suffer the consequences.

"Let's fight", I said.

We quickly outlined the rules. We were going to box but no blows to the head. Fifteen young men and one five year old boy gathered around to watch the bout. There was lots of hooting and cheering and when they said "go", I unleashed 34 years and 240 pounds of fatherly pride on Boulos (and I might add one really wicked left hook). After about one minute of solid beating, Boulos threw in the towel. I was happy. My boy was happy, and for now, he still thinks I'm invincible.

Strange as it may seem, it only took about three minutes for me to start thinking about the whole incident in spiritual terms. The Bible calls God our father over and over again. It also calls him a shepherd, a bridegroom, a warrior, and a lot of other things. These are all metaphors of course, ways that the Word can communicate some aspect of God's character to us. Father, however, is far and away the most common thing that God is likened to. These last five years, I have begun my journey through fatherhood and I always look at events like this and think, "How is this like God's relationship to me?"

Two things strike me. One is that if I would be stirred into action, even action I wouldn't normally have taken, just to please my son and validate his boasts on my behalf, how much more God? The Bible says that God delights in us. How many things happen in our lives for no other reason than the fact that God wants to bless us. And, maybe if we would brag about God more we would see him do more.

The other thing that strikes me is a difference. The fact of the matter is that I can't whip everybody. I don't know everything. And I can't solve every problem. One day Andrew will figure this all out. One day he will be bigger and stronger than me. And, I'm not going to get any younger. In that way God is totally different than us. He does know everything. He can whip anyone, and He can solve any problem. He will also never age or wane.

How encouraging it is to know that our Father can do anything and that all of the resources and power in the universe is is owned by One who wants desperately to bless us.