Prologue
He picks the strangest times to show up…to make himself known. God…he never ceases to amaze me. He waits for those special moments to make us aware of his presence. Take for instance, just a few years ago…
Three-year old Caleb and I trudged out the back door of the parsonage headed for his sandbox. He was barefoot with his jean shorts and a black Spiderman t-shirt on, holding a handful of Batman action figures. I dragged my flip flops on the cement walkway, clad in cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt and holding one of the theological books that I was reading for a seminary class.
I paced to the carport and pulled the plastic cover off the sandbox. Caleb immediately jumped into the sand, dropping his action figures in a heap. He began to move the Joker and Scarecrow into position to conduct their sinister plan of pouncing on the unsuspecting Batman.
Meanwhile, in the world outside the sandbox, I reached for a folding cloth chair and dropped into it a few feet away, preparing to settle into my own world of study. Caleb immediately looked up at me.
“Come closer, Dad!” he chirped.
I closed the book after dog-earing the page, grunted, picked my rear up off the seat and scooted the chair a foot or so closer to the sandbox, then settled back into the chair. I reopened the book and flipped to the dog-eared page.
“Come closer, Dad!” Caleb demanded from the sandbox.
“Okay! Just a minute,” I grunted and repeated my previous scooting episode, moving even closer and up to the edge of the sandbox. I settled back down in the chair again, knowing that I couldn’t get any closer to the sandbox without getting in.
Caleb looked up from Scarecrow’s devious attack of Batman and urged me once again, “Come closer, Dad!”
I had no other option left but to remove my flip-flops, scoot the front legs of the chair up against the edge of the sandbox and place my bare feet in the sand. The cool sand crunched under my bare feet.
“That’s good!” replied Caleb, who began to push sand onto my bare feet which had just become a part of his sandbox world. He was finally content that his Dad had his feet in the middle of his sandbox, where the dramas that captivated him unfolded in all their glory.
A revelation slammed into my brain and heart like a runaway locomotive. This is what I want my relationship with God to look like! I want God to be actively present in the midst of my life, my work, my play, and my relationships. I want him to be plugged into my little world so that he is intimately a part of all that I am and all that I do! I want God to have his feet in my sandbox!
From that moment onward, I began to look for God’s activity in my world; signs of the presence of his feet in my sandbox. What I realized astounded me, as his footprints became clearly visible to me in the living out of my life. I would need to know that his feet were planted in my world time and again. One thing that I can truly say, having God’s feet in your sandbox is not for the faint of heart, I assure you! But it’s the only way to live the life abundant that is only possible through a close faith walk with Jesus Christ.
You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
Psalm 16:11
