Lessons From A 5 Year Old

So I was counting raindrops the other day with my friend Zach. Let me rephrase that. We were attempting to count raindrops. HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO COUNT RAINDROPS? It’s freakin’ hard! Why on earth would I even attempt to count something as infinite as raindrops. To be honest, it was Zach’s idea. Did I mention that Zach is 5? It was the typical Florida day, sunny all day and then in three seconds, HURRICANE!!!! We were standing in the doorway to the patio of Zach’s house, looking out over the pool, watching the raindrops hit the surface of the water. Zach wanted to play a game of counting raindrops. We began. I counted as fast as I could, using first one method, then another. The funny part was that I honestly tried to count the raindrops. At first I focused on one area of the pool and tried to focus in to recognize each, individual raindrop. I tried to say numbers really fast and get as high on the numerical scale as I could. BTW, I got tired and stopped at 46. It was then that I broke down. I realized that there were raindrops falling on the ground outside and on the roof and in the road and… I had never thought about it before, but there are SO MANY raindrops in one storm. It is nigh on impossible to count raindrops. I called this blog “Lessons learned from a five year old”, but God was working on teaching me something as well. Zach and I both gave up simultaneously. I was mentally exhausted and frustrated and he may have needed to pee and then he saw a squirrel. A few days later a song spoke words straight from God’s heart to my finite brain. Misty Edwards sang these words, “I believe. You will come like the rain. I believe. You will come like the rain. And I believe You will come like the rain. You’ll come like the rain!” WOW! Suddenly I was reminded of my adventure with Zach. Those raindrops that were too numerous to count, just kept coming. Everything in their path was baptized in water. Water ran along the gutters, the cracks in the sidewalk and permeated every square inch of dry, thirsty ground. Raindrops joined together as a mighty moving force, puddling and pooling, saturating everything under their heavenly waterfall. Misty’s words gained new ground in my mind. If Jesus indeed did come like the rain, then that means He is a mighty, moving, saturating, refreshing, unstoppable, immeasurable force; bringing life and rapture. It was impossible for Zach and I to quantify the raindrops, but when we stepped back and simply enjoyed their synchronicity, we could appreciate the sheer power and amazingness of the rainstorm. I didn’t need to understand every component of the rain to know that it was working and had purpose. The presence of Jesus is as innumerable as the raindrops. When He comes like the rain, He can penetrate and saturate every area and aspect of our lives with His love, His power and His presence. If I had stood in the midst of the rainstorm, I would have quickly been soaked to the bone, but I chose to stand in the doorway, just out of it’s reach. I still enjoyed the cool, crisp, refreshing “presence” of the rainstorm, but I did it from a place of safety; a place of non-investment. That is how I have I have often lived my Christian life; standing just beyond the reach of Jesus, enjoying the promise of heaven’s possibilities, but refusing to take the few steps further, toward Jesus and allow Him to inundate me with His infinite saturating and powerful, all consuming love. My prayer for all of us is that we step out into the rainstorm that is Jesus. That we take those first few, frightening steps out of the doorway of our will and into the presence of Jesus where His cleansing love will envelop us. One of the greatest lessons I learned from Zach, as he stood there holding my hand, listening to me count, was this. When I was interested and engaged, he was, too. When I gave up and was ready to quit, so was he. Zach had begun to imitate the way I was counting. He was saying what I was saying and doing what I was doing. I believe if I had run out onto the patio in the pouring rain, he would have joined me. I also believe that if I had let go of his hand, he would have run onto the patio into the deluge all by himself. Jesus showed me how that is the power or weakness in our Christian walks. There are people who will fall in love with Jesus simply because we love Him. There are those who will follow us to church, stand by and “hold our hand” and follow our lead, as we trudge forward or fall away as we lose faith. They have the potential to be held back by our brokenness and mistrust of Jesus or catapulted forward as we lean on Jesus. Our friend’s lives will reflect our freedom in Christ or our bondage to sin. The time for standing in the doorway, enjoying Jesus from afar, has passed. It is time to recklessly abandon our hearts and lives to the heavenly rainstorm that is the infinite and innumerable presence of Jesus Christ.