The Wonder Years

At fifteen, I could have pitched for the Oakland A’s for ten million dollars. Unfortunately, my parents couldn’t raise the money!

Seriously, I had a pretty happy childhood. Mom was the church organist and at home she played ragtime piano. My love for God and music definitely started with her. Dad taught me early how to draw Popeye and Fred Flintstone, instilling a love for drawing. He also introduced me to tennis and baseball. One of my happiest memories is when he took me to a World Series game in Oakland two years before he died.

Childhood is accurately labeled the wonder years. It’s a time of fascination and discovery. We live with five of our grandchildren, so Marci and I get the great blessing of witnessing their wonder years.

Dixie, (11) and Crosby (5) constantly keep us in stitches. Their innocence and exhuberant joy reminds me why you have to become a child to enter God’s kingdom.

What is it about children that touches the Father’s heart? Perhaps it is their childlike faith to believe grownups will always tell them the truth. It angers me to hear the lies adults are telling kids today.

How I wish every kid could enjoy the childhood my grandchildren are experiencing. Their parents constantly show and tell them how much God loves them and that He has a beautiful life planned for them.

Perhaps you didn’t grow up in the ideal family, where you went to bed each night knowing you were loved. If that was you, I am so sorry.

Now some really good news! Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new!” He is restoring our childlike trust by being the Father who will never lie. When He tells us He loves us, we can believe it. He proved it by dying in our place and rose from the dead just so we could be near Him. His love for us is deeper than we could ever imagine.

You know I was kidding earlier. I never had an offer to pitch for the A’s. But God offered me a lifetime contract to be with the angels one day! That’s a deal I couldn’t pass up. And my parents didn’t have to raise a cent!

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1