Family

We have family visiting from the USA next week. They haven’t been to England for twenty years. In fact, half of the family have never been to England before because they weren’t born the last time the others came! Those of you who have family a long way away will now the challenges of long distance families. You don’t get to spend much time with them. Unless of course you have lots of time and money. Which most families don’t. Keeping in touch with distant families has changed over the years with the advent of technology. And it’s cheaper than ever now if you use the correct form of communication. But it is still no substitute for being present with someone. It’s really hard to get to know someone when they are a long way away and you don’t see them often. Sure you can do all the things we can do these days with calls, video, pictures, live chats…but it’s not the same as being with a person. And one of the challenges we find is that it’s easy to drift in long distant relationships. It’s easy to be “out of sight out of mind”. Maybe you’re different, but you have to work really hard at keeping in touch. Busy life schedules, time differences and changing patterns all conspire against making it easy. However much we might want to keep in touch and up to date on all the family happenings, it becomes challenging. We miss stuff. We forget stuff. We can’t find a time to talk that works. And there’s so much in life that happens almost incidentally which, if we’re present, we see, but if we’re far away we don’t see, and by the time we catch up it’s gone and forgotten. We’ve moved on. No doubt during next week there’ll be lots of conversations along the lines of seeing each other again soon, doing this or that, going here or there, all with great intentions, but which will, in truth, never happen. Because distance doesn’t allow for that kind of relationship. And that’s often the way it is with God. Unless that’s just me. He is often far away, distant. At least that how it seems. When he’s close, it’s great. We talk and dream together. I feel his presence in ways it’s hard to describe. But, mostly, he’s not so close. A bit more distant. And then it becomes a drift. He’s not in my every moment thinking. Sometimes not in my daily thinking. I’m busy with other, important things. Mostly around church. And preparing things to say about him! Truth is, I sometimes find it hard to know what I think about him and to work out what he might be doing in the world. Recently I stumbled across a truth I’m really attracted to because it is changing the way I’m thinking about God. The first thing God says about his creation and of the people he created, is that they are very good (Gen. 1v31). I knew that because I’ve read that many times. But I hadn’t thought about, or grasped the importance of that statement. Because, as far as I can tell, nowhere in the rest of the Bible does that change. And the story of the rest of the Bible is God relentlessly sticking with the people he created. Sure Genesis chapter 3 is challenging as the freedom God gives to the people he loves allows them to move away from him. But God never goes anywhere. Ever. The wholes story of the Bible from creation to Revelation is the story of how God is always moving towards his people. The relationship God has with his people is steadfast, immovable. God is always for us. We, on the other hand seem to have lots of problems with God. I know I do. My relationship with him is patchy and often distant. Next week I want to show England off the my family. I want them to be impressed. I want them to be impressed with me and my home, the paces I go and the things I hold dear. They might be. But they might not be. It’s a delicate balance, family. It’s hard to love and be loved with all the challenges of distance and our own limitations. Because God looks at me and says I’m every good, I don’t need to try to impress him. He’s already impressed. And he is sticking with me, whatever happens. In everything. What I’m realising is that the more I can grasp and live in the truth of how the story of God begins, the more I can live in his great love. And as I enjoy being close to family next week, maybe I will see a little more of how God enjoys his relationship with me. Even when I am sometimes a little distant.