Her Name Was Emily...

Her name was Emily…I think. Usually I am pretty good with names. And you would think I would remember the name of my first girlfriend. But hey, I was only 3 at the time. She had dark hair, I think. And she was short. But then again I was short as well. What I do remember is that we connected. We didn’t meet on the playground at daycare or in Sunday school class at church with the fannelgraphs of Noah and his Ark. Both of us were undergoing extensive stays in the Children’s Hospital. I can’t recall what disease or sickness Emily had. I do know that she was there awhile. I was in the hospital because of the heart disease known as tachycardia. (Is there a cooler name for a disease than tachycardia? I think not. It sounds like the name of some Eastern European techno group.)

Like I said earlier, because we were both young and in the hospital we connected. I guess when you go through difficult situations in life you are drawn to those who can share those situations with you. The first time I took Emily out, I rolled here around the hallways of the hospital in a red wagon. I tried to be a Southern gentleman. I also remember the fun we had while being entertained by the hospital puppet. We would always give the puppet pretend shots in the puppet arm. Injecting puppets with stuff makes for a great date when you are 3.

So where am I going with this? What’s my point besides the fact that I was an early dater? Well, it’s the idea that our lives revolve around relationships. I have no idea where Emily is or what she is doing, but I do know that we had shared a friendship while we spent a few months in the hospital. And that connectedness has stayed in my memory all of these years.

I have heard it said before that relationships can cause us to experience the greatest joys and the deepest heartaches that we will ever face in our life. I know that in my own life relationships have brought both a smile to my face and also tears to my eyes. Relationships have given me a sense of belonging. They have helped me discover who I am. Through relationships I have experienced both rejection and loss. Through relationships I have done things I told myself I would never do. Things I regret. But also through relationships I have also became a better human being. They have challenged me to grow emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Relationships have allowed me to love, to learn, to live.

And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that God is all about relationship.

Throughout the whole Bible, it’s God constantly trying to pursue a relationship with man. “Let me make this beautiful garden so you can enjoy it and come to know me.” And then man always has to screw it up somehow. “Hey, I wanna eat this fruit that you told me not to eat.” And it’s back and forth and back and forth. And then God does the ultimate thing and sends Jesus as His ultimate sign of affection for His beloved.

The thing that amazes me about me relationship with God is that even though I fail Him everyday, even though I run away from Him sometimes, even though sometimes I pretend I don’t hear Him when He asks something of me, the thing that amazes me is He still desires a relationship with me. He still calls me son.