On The Road Again

On The Road Again

He is at it big time - Baby Hodge has started crawling. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, Route 6 has nothing on him. Hodge is on the move. If you value your life or your coffee table accessories you better be one step ahead.

I’ve either never seen anything like it. Maybe I’ve just forgotten the particulars about the crawling stage, but whew, this bundle of energy demolishes everything in its path. An eight-month-year-old hurricane, he packs the winds of Katrina and Ike combined. He has been know to blow through a house before one can say “supercalifrajulisticxpalidosis”.

Recently at Thanksgiving, I was watching, really watching him, and I marveled at God’s goodness. It appears that God created babies so that we, adults, can see ourselves and our spiritual walks in their little bodies. Precious beyond belief, there is nothing Hodge can or will do that will cause me to disown or leave him. I delight in him. His world is an adventure of discovery. He wants to taste, eat, smell, and experience everything in his path. As parents and grandparents teaching him right from wrong, what is dangerous and healthy for his well-being are part of our responsibilities as parents and grandparents.

That’s how God is with us. Without a relationship and the word of God, as his children in adult bodies, we run around causing chaos and destruction at every turn. Our own little bumper car derby, we put our hands in more pies than we dare to admit. Aren’t we lucky that we have a loving father that picks up after us. And even more so, he saves us from ourselves before we crawl in the fish pond or a burning fireplace. Often is the time that he pushes the things of value out of reach until we are mature enough to handle them.

As Hodge’s wind is tamed by the love and oversight of his parents and grandparents, so, too, are our winds tamed by God in the form of the Holy Spirit himself who leads, guides, directs, and disciplines us as we crawl and then run along the highway of life.