Awesomeness!!

I love teenagers; I enjoy their company, their enthusiasm and energy. I like their emotions too; the way their faces and eyes give them away even when they try to hide. I realize as a grandma, I have a little different perspective on teenagers. If you are a parent of teenagers, my only advice is to hold on, pray and ride the storm as your children gradually unfold before your eyes. Watching them mature into their own skin is frustrating, frightening, unnerving and wonderful. Absolutely wonderful!

Last night I attended a youth service here in N.C. I was not certain what to expect since we are, after all dealing with teens, but let me say: it was great! My husband and I stood in the back because we wanted to observe the worship and watch our grandson playing his bass guitar and singing on the stage. My goodness! Blond curls, blue eyes, skinny jeans and hand painted tennis shoes.

He was amazing. And he sang. I have been in many services with him where getting him to sing was a job - but he sang, he played, he worshipped. He was awesome.

In the back of the room was a table with several young people sitting and working. There in the middle was our next grandson busy on his laptop putting words on the overhead screen. Watching him bouncing in his seat, singing and typing all at the same time, I had flashbacks of his mom and uncle both taking their turns on the overhead. He was awesome!

At the end of the table was his younger brother bent intently over the soundboard, listening, adjusting, moving with the music. One more awesome!

Royce and I have 15 wonderful grandkids, each awesome in their own way. Each has his or her own place in God, their particular set of talents and interests,  last night I watched as these three took their place in the house of God and it was a good thing. God has once again proven himself faithful.

The promises He has given us, the words He has spoken, the prayers prayed, the tears shed, none of it is wasted. Every time we go before Him in prayer or to look upon His face, something is done in the spirituals. Something timeless and lasting. This world is of course temporary, but the things done in the spiritual - they are everlasting and they are life.

After a few moments they began to sing about loving His presence. Hands went up all over the congregation and young voices raised in love to Jesus. This grandma stood in the midst and raised hands and sang along .. "I love Your presence."  I was no longer a spectator. In His presence age doesn't matter. One last awesome!

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 89:1

We are climbing Jacob's ladder, children of the King. Climbing a ladder is fun when you are too little to actually do it;  it is exciting when you are first allowed to climb; it becomes work when you reach the age that you must climb to access roof tops, and scary when you reach my age.

But, climb we do and climb we must. Whether it is to reach something high on a shelf or to reach something high in the spirituals. Climbing is all of the above: fun, exciting, work and scary. Of course Jacob saw the ladder into Heaven while resting comfortably on the ground, using a rock for a pillow. God spoke many promises to him during his dream; promises of blessings over him and his family.

If we read the account in Genesis 28, we understand that although Jacob was lounging when the Lord appeared in a dream; showing him the ladder and speaking promises over his life, we understand that Jacob was on a long and uncertain journey. After deceiving his brother, Jacob was fleeing to his mother's family in order to avoid Esau's plan to kill him. With no modern communication devices, he did not know what or who awaited him.

Climbing, whether physical or spiritual, is a part of life. One step at a time, rung upon rung, precept upon precept, we press onward up the steps of  Jacob's ladder. Sometimes gracefully, other times showing parts of ourselves that should be kept hidden; but always moving upward toward the prize of the high calling of Christ. That we might know him.

Had Jacob chosen to remain at home and hide behind his mother's skirts, he may never have seen the ladder or received the promises over his life. It took being pushed out of the nest and traveling out on his own to come into that place where the Lord appeared to him. Being shoved out of the nest is never a pleasant thing, but it appears to be a necessary event in many of our lives. That pushing comes in different ways and at different times. Many of us have been pushed out of several nests, but always the Lord is there, waiting, speaking, encouraging, helping and bringing us closer to Him.

Keep climbing, keep looking up, do not look back and do not look down lest you lose your balance and/or your courage. God is with us as we climb, He is waiting for us to ascend to that place in Him where we rest complete.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Phil. 3: 13 & 14