My favorite place to worship in my church is…where the kids worship. Our 4 year olds-5th graders all worship together in their own worship space on Wednesday nights. I love all our other teams and can experience the Lord wherever on our campus, but that is my favorite place to be during worship. They jump around and do some things you can’t get away with in “big” church. (some of that is for good reasons) They worship with such abandon, innocence and enthusiasm.

Something about kid’s worship always gets me. The Bible says that, “Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise”. Interestingly enough, in this passage (Matthew 21:12-16), Jesus had just gotten a little ticked with the manipulation of people in the temple and cleaned house. Afterwards, the blind and lame came to Him and He healed them. What should have been beautiful about this visit to the temple is that the Messiah was finally there. He had come to bring purity and healing to His house; to re-establish it’s purpose. The chief priests, some of whom were benefiting from the scams, were furious. The children, on the other hand, cried out and were saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David”. Their innocence allowed them to see what the spiritual leaders refused to recognize.

Kids worship with a purity and innocence that is so easy to lose as you get older. When children worship, really worship not just sing songs, I find myself broken. There is nothing like seeing kids with hands raised in worship, singing like it is the most important thing they could ever do. And if they start crying as they worship; forget about it, I’m officially done leading. I can’t even continue when I see kids truly experiencing Him. Having a 4 and 6 year old seals the deal. When I hear them sing from their heart, in the car, the house or on Wednesdays at PowerKids my passion for Jesus is renewed. I love seeing kids experience God’s presence.

I was praying with Judah, my 6 year old, the other day about having a “Transformer’s Mind” (another topic) and I sensed the presence of the Lord, so I asked him how he felt during the prayer. Did he feel anything “different”? His response…”I felt kind of tingly. Like I knew Jesus was there. Kind of like spidey-sense.” I don’t know about you, but reading that just made my spiritual “spidey-sense” go off. Lord help us to keep our childlike sense of wonderment, amazement and enthusiasm for Your presence.

I had a great chance to worship with two great friends this weekend. Tony Sutherland and I were at my boy Mike Craig’s church. My friends Wayne and Jaron showed up as well and it was nice to just have some free worship time with friends. Mike and I have literally known each other our whole lives. We are a month and a day apart and our parents attended church together when we were born. Relationships with that depth are rare and I’m very thankful for him and what his family and friendship mean to me.

During one of our worship times I felt the Lord tell me to just seek Him for who He is. I so often find myself seeking the Lord for specific things. Some direction here. How to handle a situation with a worship team member there. Here an issue, there an issue, everywhere a issue, issue. I felt a distinct sense of needing to lay some of that down (although there is nothing wrong with praying for/through issues) and just spend more time seeking Him just to know Him more.

So tonight in my office, I was praying for some of our worship team, for some friends and also just talking to the Lord asking Him more about Him. I was specifically trying to understand a certain aspect of what He is doing in my life that I don’t understand. I heard this in my heart; “Sometimes you just need to embrace the mystery. Don’t get so caught up in trying to “figure” Me out. My ways are higher than yours. My thoughts are higher than yours.”

There are so many things I may never understand. Why the God of all the universe would love and choose me. Why He would come and die. Why He would create us in the first place knowing that that was the eventual outcome. Why He speaks through people like me when several people are more qualified. Eternity? How does it work?

I’m glad to serve a God that I can’t figure out and am going to take more time to “embrace the mystery” of who He is and just enjoy Him.

I had this thought that struck me the other day while I was on the road to lead worship at a friend’s church. “What am I telling my kids with my non-verbal actions that life is about?” I was thinking about everything that I place priority on in my life and how, when I’m gone and they’re grown, they are going to take cues on how life should be lived from me. I can leave them at home while I go and do the work God has called me to and they will most likely grow up and do the same with their kids. I could sit at home and only watch TV and they will probably do the same. You get the idea.

I thought I would challenge myself, and some of my friends, on this idea. I would say that I am most passionate about Jesus, my wife, my kids, others and then everything else. But, the actions that my kids see might portray a different set of priorities. They see me after I’m done praying/worshiping/leading/mentoring/studying etc. They don’t get to see a lot of the more “spiritual” things that I do. So as I took an honest inventory of what they do see, I felt like my kids would know a few things if I were gone tomorrow.

1. Jesus is the most important thing.
2. We should worship with passion.
3. I love their Mom more than anyone else. (so far so good)
4. Tarheel Basketball is VERY important.
5. The TV can stay on most of the time. (uh-oh)
6. Having fun with friends is one of the most important things in life.
7. Daddy’s PlayStation is a lot of fun and I should definitely learn how to play it.
8. The computer and cell phone trump most things.

1-3 are pretty good, but the rest of the list isn’t reflective of my true priorities (at least in my heart) but it is probably what they see. That last one hurts especially bad. I thought about how I read and I pray, but rarely in front of my kids. Don’t get me wrong, we bless our kids every night. We talk about God. What His Word says. How its principles should affect how we live our everyday lives. But they don’t see me pounding it down, working it through, talking about it with friends, asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom.

When I’m gone, I want my kids to be able to know how they should live. I want them to say, “I saw my Dad and Mom live it; now it’s my turn and my turn to teach my kids the same.” I am sending this out to a few friends and asking them, “What is my life telling my kids?” and “What do I want it to be telling them?” If they allow me, I’ll post some of their thoughts here.

I, for one, intend to start being a little more intentional with what my non-verbal communications say to my kids. I want them to know that a relationship with God changes who we are, prioritizes our life and gives us an eternal perspective. I want them to know God is alive and well, not just by what they hear, but by what they see.