Enough Already! | Lisa Harper | Elevation Church

TL;DR Summary

In this engaging sermon, Lisa Harper delves into the theme of feeling inadequate and how God’s love transcends our perceived shortcomings. She uses humor and personal anecdotes to draw listeners into a deeper understanding of their worth in God’s eyes. Harper emphasizes that despite our human tendency to feel less than, God’s love and acceptance are unwavering, reminding us that we are all His favorites.

Harper explores Genesis 48, where Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, crossing his hands to bless the younger over the elder. This act symbolizes God’s disregard for human hierarchies and traditions, highlighting that in God’s kingdom, there is no second best. Harper connects this to the New Testament, referencing Romans 8 and the concept of believers as co-heirs with Christ. This powerful message underscores that all believers are equally cherished and valued, regardless of their past or perceived inadequacies.

The sermon encourages listeners to embrace their identity as beloved children of God, reminding them that they are not required to earn His love or approval. Harper’s message is a call to rest in the assurance of God’s unconditional love and to live confidently as His favored sons and daughters. She concludes with a heartfelt encouragement to draw near to God, knowing that He is always ready to embrace us with open arms, reinforcing the profound truth of our worth and identity in Him.

Full Sermon Transcript

There is nothing like elevation nights and we have added three special summer dates we are coming your way tell them where we’re going to be I’m so excited about this so on July 19th we’re gonna be in Savannah Georgia on July 20th Greenville South Carolina and July 21st Nashville Tennessee we’re coming did you hear the lady that’s very soon you got to get your tickets right now so we can worship God preach his word everybody’s coming you better be there I’ll see you elevation nights here comes the word of God go to elevationnights.com and get your tickets and then to the message let’s hear the word.

I don’t know how flamox myself as to how I slid in to the DMS of elevation I don’t know how I’m shocked I told Holly in the very beginning I thought she got me confused with either Lisa Turkish who sells a lot of books or Lisa bevere who preaches in leather pants and I thought I know but I can’t or it sounds like ducks are being killed there’s a lot of squeaking if I preached in leather and so I I really don’t know how other than pure grace that I get to be here but I am absolutely delighted I do there’s there’s not too many people I respect more than Pastor Holly and Pastor Steve and I love Wade and Amy Chris Colleen Tunis there’s just so many people at elevation who have caught me who have modeled for me uh what running hard toward Jesus looks like what it looks like to be enveloped in a family of faith and so before we dive into God’s word let me get you to reach out and touch that Saint next to you this is not rhetorical go ahead and touch them don’t grope them just touch them um gentlemen I know this is real girly so y’all don’t have to interlock fingers you can just awkwardly pinky grip at this point those of you joining us online at efam you don’t have to touch anybody I hope you’re in comfy pants you can just undo the top button because this is a safe place to lean into Jesus we want you to be comfortable would you pray for those Saints on either side of you if you’re watching by yourself pray for yourself and pray that in these next few minutes as we dive into this love letter called the Bible that God will give us eyes to see bigger ears that hear louder and hearts that are pliant enough to actually receive the Glorious good news that we have a perfect God who loves us unconditionally we’re the prize y’all we’re the prize Jesus Jesus Jesus thank you for this time in this space that we get to come together and focus our attention and our affection on you Lord we confess that most of us come with a lot of distraction takes me more more than four or five songs to actually get my heart into place to receive from you man I wish worship had been an hour this morning thank you thank you thank you for that promise that when we seek you with all our hearts you will be found by us but Jesus I praise you even more so for that promise in Isaiah the beginning of the book where you say so great is your love for us that you even reveal yourself to people who aren’t looking for you yet we’re undone this morning by your kindness God just undone we confess as your sons and daughters we can’t even understand scripture apart from holy spirit so Holy Spirit Just Have Your Way in this place and our hearts and our minds just plow up ground that’s hard or numb or disappointed open our eyes lift our view beyond our circumstances so that we can remember this miraculous love story you you wrote us into we love you Jesus we need you Jesus we pray all these things and you’re perfect and Holy Name Lord Jesus amen and amen.

Speaking of speaking of sliding into elevations DMS this is called body Glide um it’s a it’s a stick it’s an anti-chafing balm it’s all all about getting yourself slippery and I just wanted to start with TMI because I had to wear this the last time I was in a an athletic competition um I I got talked into running a 10K and even though I’m wearing Spanx this morning it’s probably very apparent that I’m not gifted at long distance running but a friend of mine talked me into it because she said Lisa they have this amazing swag they have really cute t-shirts this was in Colorado and and I thought okay I’ll line up with all these paleo people and I’ll run this 10K because the t-shirts are really cute and so before the race she whipped out one of these body Glide slides and she said I don’t hurt your feelings but you know you have such um such gifted legs that I think that it might help you to rub this on your inner thighs she did not say or else you will be arrested for arson but that was the implication and so I slathered myself up with body Glide gentlemen is like what in the Sam Hill we’re getting to the Bible we’re going to get there in just a second some all slathered up with body Glides so I won’t start a forest fire and that and the starter’s pistol goes off to start this race and I have Kodak courage so I am up with the elite eight like the first 200 yards of the race because everybody’s cheering but then it turns uphill and we start running up those gorgeous Rocky Mountains that were always meant to be skied down not run up I start running up those mountains and I thought this is horrible who would do this as a hobby who would I mean I can understand if you were being disciplined or this was some kind of parole thing but people do this on purpose and so about halfway through the race I was like I can’t do this I cannot do this anymore this friction is too much I have I have what they call hot spots for for runners and so I thought I’m an old athlete I played volleyball and tennis in college and I thought I just can’t bring myself to quit that just seems sissy-ish and I can’t do that but maybe I could find a hole and I could step in a hole and break my ankle and then I could step off this course with some some measure of dignity left and so I’m searching for a hole on the race course and all of a sudden I hear this really loud swishing sound behind me and so I look over my shoulder and y’all there’s a six foot bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich beside me you know some people have so much energy when they run races that they actually wear costumes which I’m like really I’m like about to crawl and and cry and and knock somebody over the head who has a donut who’s watching the race so I can take their carb but instead these people had enough energy to have a costume the first guy had this massive foam cut out that was like Wonder Bread just his face is poking through running she is just his face behind him is like this green tart piece of lettuce it was very lifelike um I wanted to eat it badly and then he’s roped to a middle Runner the middle Runner just his little face is poking out from a piece of lifelike American cheese and then attached to that is three pieces of very Wiggly bacon I don’t know what they made that out of then there’s two other robes pulling up the Caboose he’s another giant piece of Wonder Bread and then he’s slathered with all kinds of condiments in a life-size tomato well more than life-sized tomato and I mean it was really incredible so creative this giant six foot BLT and it was passing me and that is a lot of wind resistance and so that was the lowest point of my competition I decided never ever again would I compete in anything where I had to wear body Glide so I I no longer compete in 10ks I don’t rollerblade I don’t go to Myrtle Beach because because that particular vacation Mecca there’s a lot of people there who need body Glide it’s um whole lot of rubbing going on up at Myrtle Beach and um of having offended you Myrtle beachers but I was there recently and I’m just mentally I couldn’t handle that corporate need for for some something to stop the chafing.

Now I don’t know if running is your Nemesis or if chafing is real for you but I do know all of us can identify with feeling like we’re not quite good enough for whatever activity we’ve stepped into that we don’t quite meet the minimum requirement for some Club some community that we had hoped to belong to feeling like we’re not quite good enough that’s that’s not just an athletic competition thing that’s a human thing part of the human condition is to feel like we we’re just a little bit less than acceptable maybe it’s that your mother-in-law always treated you like her boy could have done better or maybe you’re the only one who doesn’t know how to pronounce habakkuk in your e fam or maybe it’s that you’re in a double Spanx kind of season and you hang out with a lot of Keto girls I don’t know what it is but there’s just something about the human experience that presses on the bruise in our human psyche and causes us at some level to doubt am I actually good enough for that and the real the real danger is when we superimpose that wondering if we’re good enough onto the character of our creator Redeemer it’s The Human Experience to think we don’t quite measure up it is actually not biblically defensible it’s not in this Divine Love Story we call a Bible if you brought yours turn to Genesis 48 and I’ll prove it Genesis 48 it’s about a quarter of an inch from the beginning unless you have a Scofield bible we’ll have it up on the screens Genesis 48 verse 8 and this is a long one so don’t play Angry Birds yet I’ll read fast when Israel saw Joseph’s Sons he said who are these now let me let me qualify this just a minute because when you hear the word Israel we forget that Israel is synonymous for Jacob so this is one of the Patriarchs in in scripture Jacob so when I read Israel I meant just start changing it I love you I might just start changing it to Jacob because same same name um and um Joseph y’all remember who Joseph is young TalkBack I’m not your pastor he’s the guy who got this really cool colored coat from h m and his brothers got all jealous and threw him in a hole remember that and then they dragged him off as a slave he was in Egypt and then Pharaoh’s wife was a total hoochie mama and she accused him of sexual uh misconduct and he didn’t do it but he got thrown in jail anyway y’all remember this guy and then he ends up being this great leader and God uses him to actually help his people not die of starvation during famine are you with me on the story okay so we’re at the part where he’s done all that he’s a grown man he has children of his own and he goes back to Jacob the patriarch with two little boys his two little boys Ephraim and Manasseh who were born in Egypt not in Israel and so his dad Jacob the granddaddy of these little boys uh Joe says to him these are my sons whom God has given me here and he said bring them to me please that I may bless them now the eyes of Jacob were dim with age so that he could not see so he had cataracts and uh Jake so Joe brought them near him and he kissed him and embraced them and Jacob said to Joe I never expect to see your face because remember they’ve been separated since his Hazel Brothers threw him in the pit and all he says I never expected to see your face I never expected this reconciliation and never expected you to come back to me but God has let me see your Offspring also then Joseph removed them from his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the Earth he’s so delighted to bring his boys to his father and Joe took them both Ephraim and his right hand toward Israel’s left hand in Manasseh and his left hand toward Israel’s right hand and brought them near him and Jacob stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim who was the younger and his left hand on the head of Manasseh Crossing his hands if you’ve got a brick and mortar Bible and you’re comfortable writing in it underscore that hugely significant even for us as modern day Christ followers we’ll get there in just a second Crossing his hands for Manasseh was the firstborn and he blessed Joe and said the god before whom my father’s Abraham and Isaac walked the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day the angel has redeemed me from all evil bless these boys and in them let my name be carried on in the name of my father’s Abe and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth when Joe saw that his dad laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim it displeased him and he took his father’s hand to Move It from Ephraim said to Manassas head and Joe said to his daddy not this way Dad since this one is the firstborn put your right hand on his head but his father refused and said I know my son I know I might have cataracts but I’m not stupid that’s not literal Hebrew it’s more message Point too nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he and his offspring shall become a multitude of Nations so so Jacob blessed them that day saying bless you Israel will pronounced blessings saying God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh then Israel said to Joe behold I’m about to die but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers moreover I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the amorites with my sword and with my bow.

So what does that Old Testament history mean to us today why is it significant for us especially for those of us who wonder how in the world could a perfect God like that fully accept fully love a damaged woman a damaged man like me first of all in this ancient culture they practice the law of primogeniture and that just means the firstborn got everything firstborn son got every thing the law of inheritance was the firstborn son was it second really was just despair first is the air second is a spare and so what would happen is the patriarch of any family uh Community would bless the firstborn with his right hand because in Semitic culture the right hand is the Blessed hand the right hand is the holy hand the right hand is is the the hand that you want to bless with left hand is considered subservient I was just in Israel again in March and none of my Jewish friends will greet me with their left hand that’s considered disrespectful the right hand is the hand of blessing that’s why you will never read in Scripture that Jesus said at the left hand of God the Father always the right always the right so when when Joe multicolored coat guy brings his two little boys to their Granddaddy and he says I want you to bless him dad and then Jacob crosses his arms y’all this is the only time that happens in all of scripture that’s called a hay Pax legomanon Isn’t that cool share that with your efam group if they’re thinking you’re sliding just go well I was reading a Apex like ominon it’s a fancy word that means it only happens once in a corpus or in a text you will never read this again in scripture this is the only time you’ve got a patriarch Crossing his arms intentionally to bless the Second Son instead of the first as was their custom as was their tradition Joseph is so flustered by it he’s like Dad you messed up you breast blessed the wrong kid and he goes no I knew exactly what I was doing he says here’s the deal Joseph I want both of them blessed what this leads to Scholars critical Scholars call this etiology fancy word that means this is this is the foundation that explains what happens later on this is the causation of something this explains why Ephraim who was the second son becomes prominent in Israel’s history from from then on from Genesis 48 when you hear about Manasseh he’s firstborn it says Manasseh and Ephraim you would think they were twins by the way you read them in biblical narrative and then Ephraim actually kind of gets bigger than Manasseh Ephraim is the one where we get a lot of the leaders from in the Old Testament Ephraim is the one when Israel splits into two Nations y’all remember when that happened because we had Solomon third king of Israel and he was a player and had way too many wives and concubines and they fought and I couldn’t decide for an air do you remember this and so it was real Jerry Springer and so instead of Israel being one one United Nation Under Yahweh they split and there was Northern Israel and there were Southern Israel there were 12 tribes y’all remember who the 12 tribes came from Young tuck back Jacob so it’s Jacob’s 12 sons who make up the 12 tribes of Israel those are the tribes that step over the Jordan and they go into Canaan they’re the ones who occupy Promised Land There are great great great great great great great great and then some spiritual grandmamas and granddaddies well Ephraim and Manasseh are sons of Joseph which means technically they aren’t one of the 12 tribes they’re half tribe but you know that after this they’re called a tribe technically they’re not attracted but they’re called a full-on tribe and when Israel splits ten tribes go to the north two tribes Judah and Benjamin go to the South where Jerusalem is do you know what they begin calling the North Ephraim the name Ephraim becomes a metanum for all the Israelites in the north so he just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and more prominent in Israel’s history but he’s the second son he’s the spare it’s so cool y’all what this means for us as Christ followers it means there’s no second best it means there’s no JV it means there’s no lesser thing it means if you put your hope in Jesus we’re all favorites every single one of us he doesn’t go oh you know what it’s it’s Thanksgiving up here in glory you got to sit at the Kitty table only the mature Believers sit here that is not biblically defensible he goes there is now no more hierarchy you humans have hierarchy you humans Elevate certain ethnicities certain socio-demographic groups certain waist sizes certain hair colors you establish criteria for Value I don’t if you have put your hope in me your all favorite Sons Paul continues this theme I just love this theme he continues it in Romans 8 Romans 8 is basically the Hub of our theological wheel as Believers you know this Romans 8 some of y’all have instagramed it but you might not know it know it Romans 8 verse 14 for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God that’s not a gender exclusive term by the way Paul goes on to explain later in Galatians 3 he says if you are in Christ there is now no more Greek nor Jew male nor female slave nor master so this is actually not a gender exclusive term it’s just in in language at this time it was a patriarchal society so inheritance language was masculine but that’s not just talking about boys there for all that’s the operative word for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God for you did not receive the spirit of Slavery to fall back into fear but you received this receive the spirit of adoption as Sons by whom we cry Abba father do you know Jesus is the first one in Luke 11 when he’s teaching us how to pray prior to Jesus the rabbis had really formal prayers and they would approach Yahweh God the Father with a title Jesus says no you get to approach him as Dad your sons your firstborn you get to approach him has dad Abba Father Dad the spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs Heirs of God and fellow heirs underscore that y’all fellow heirs your translation might say co-heirs with Christ provided we suffer with suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified in him Colossians 1 tells us that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation he blows Willian the Prince of Wales away he’s not just the firstborn in UK royalty he is the firstborn of all creation he is the definitive Heir the definitive firstborn and here Paul says you’re his co-heirs you raggedy broke down prone to shave prone to wander people you are co-heirs the Greek term there is uh soon clay ronamass soon clay ramanas it means we are properly entitled to inherit every single thing Jesus inherits properly entitled to inherit Everything Jesus y’all that should blow your doors properly entitled to inherit so Jesus doesn’t say Hey Dad I’ve got a friend I mean I know they’re kind of broke down another kind of Ratchet but you know I got to know him in Charlotte and can we just some vitamin a minute and stay like they can stay in the basement that’s not it we sit right next to Jesus at the banqueting table of God the Father it’s stunning our abscess is stunning we’re not less than adopted children where co-heirs missing hour at a Christmas event uh last year and a man who has since become a friend a Messianic Rabbi from Israel was at this event in Nashville we were teaching him how to talk right and eat biscuits and he he watched Missy and I for a long time and then he called me over and he said Lisa do you understand the distinction between adoption in America and adoption in a Jewish culture especially a biblical Jewish culture and I said I don’t think so and he said well in in my culture and especially in the context of biblical narrative a parent could disinherit a biological child could disinherit a biological child but it is illegal if you’re an orthodox Jew to disinherit an adopted child he said we don’t even realize how significant it was when Joseph went with Mary to have the the first born sacrifice made a week after baby Jesus was born you read this in Luke 2 that’s where Simeon sings over Jesus and says this is the savior this is a man you have been waiting for all this time that’s where Anna remember she was waiting there for almost 100 years simeon’s old I always imagine her back in the bathroom like filling the paper paper towel dispensers and she knows Simeon they’re really close friends from the Jewish retirement home across the street from the temple they’re both big volunteers the temple been there for decades and she hears Simeon warbling and she’s back for filling the paper towel dispenser and she thinks oh no he’s broken his hip again and she goes running or kind of wobbling into Temple and she looks up and she see these sees these teenagers and the boy has a pigeon squawking in his backpack Mary and Joe were poor they couldn’t afford a normal sacrifice so they brought a pigeon and they’ve got a baby boy and Simeon is holding this baby boy and simeon’s face is lit up like a Christmas tree and he says this is the one Anna this is the one we’ve been waiting for all these this this is the Christ this is Emmanuel my friend Samuel said Lisa when that happened when Joseph voluntarily went to Temple and said this is my firstborn what he was saying is this one gets my full inheritance even though I’m technically the stepdad I didn’t get Mary pregnant technically on the stepdad this is my son and every single thing I have I’m given to this boy he said that’s what we have when it says we’re coheirs with Christ where coheirs with Christ we get everything he gets that is so hard for me to understand it’s become a little more tangible now that I’m a mom myself I became a mom through the miracle of adoption the year I turned 50. I was uh really broke down probably all the chafing and my 20s and 30s and and I was really afraid of intimacy I didn’t get married in my 20s and 30s I was really drawn to abusers God protected me from the men I was most drawn to you and this is of course pre-online dating um which that’s been a train wreck for me too I won’t go there but but the few good Godly guys I dated God protected them for me because I was just crippled with shame even though I knew Jesus I knew him as my savior I didn’t know him as my Liberator in my 20s and 30s and so to and by the way when I hear babies I love the sound of babies in church don’t worry about a baby when I see people in church give dirty looks to parents or grandparents or aunties or uncles with babies I always pray the people giving the dirty looks would get hives because I’m like Lord have mercy if ever we should celebrate babies but to get to have my story redeemed to get to become a mom at the age of 50 through the miracle of adoption after my little girl’s first Mama died in Haiti I just I feel like I’m still in the honeymoon season of how God restored that part of my story and getting to be Missy’s mom.

Getting to be Missy’s mom has helped me understand more about being a child of God Head backwards to Luke’s gospel I love Luke’s gospel Luke is the only known non-gentile author of scripture he wrote The Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles and he was an outlier he was not a Jew all of the other authors of holy writ are are Jews got a few books that are formally classified as Anonymous but most of them were written by Jews and so Luke is a gentile knew what it was to to wonder if he fit that he actually didn’t meet the minimum requirement for an author of a Yuan galeon a gospel and so his stories are just riddled with compassion and with the idea of what it means to be close to this God who calls us his children and this story the story that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 11 you know half of his sermon material was parabolic it was story this story he tells just slays me uh begins in verse five he’s taught them how to pray and then Jesus said to them he’s talking to disciples which of you has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him friend lend me three loaves this is Luke 11 verse 6. for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him and he will answer from within do not bother me the door is now shut my children are with me in bed I cannot get up and give you anything I tell you though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend yet because of his impudence again if y’all comfortable writing in your Bibles underscore that one that is such an interesting word this too is a hay pack slugomenon this is the only time this particular word is used anywhere in the Bible the Greek of that English word is an idea and it’s this audaciousness uh anytime you read about this in history Josephus talks about it a lot he was first century historian and he always uses it in the pejorative sense so he says because the neighbor is so audacious in his banging the dad eventually Rises and gives him what he needs verse 8 verse 9 and I tell you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds into the one who knocks it will be opened what father among you if his son asks for official instead of a fish give him a serpent or if he asks for an egg we’ll give him a scorpion and if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more well the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him I grew up half Baptist a mama’s Baptist of the bone my dad’s Pentecostal so I’m Baptist which means I want to dance but I have no rhythm and I’ve seen almost all of these stories flannel graft I’ve heard that story in Luke 11. I bet I’ve heard that preach I don’t know Holly a thousand times you have to I’m sure you’ve preached it before I’ve seen it flannel graft I mean I thought I knew every Nuance to that story is horrifically arrogant is that sounds and then in a seminary class I’m finishing up a doctorate at Den Sim I heard one of the uh he’s considered the foremost authority on The Parables Dr Craig blomberg preached on this particular Passage and I was just undone by his application one of my other favorite theologians living one anyway I love all the dead guys but Dr Craig Keener is Alive and Kicking at Asbury seminary in Kentucky and Dr Craig Keener says this if you get out of the Bible what you’re expecting to get out of the Bible you need to change your expectations always bigger it’s always better I thought that story in Luke 11 was about prayer I thought it was about persistence and prayer because the takeaway is always ask seek knock and Dr blomberg said well that that’s one of the applications but you actually have to dig a little deeper and look at the parabolic semblance in this story so any time you have a dad in one of Jesus stories or a master a Vineyard owner who does that represent always always young talk back God always if it’s the father in the story Jesus always represents God the Father Master always represents the king of all Kings always always so you’ve got a dad he’s in bed he’s asleep in his house if you know anything about first century Jewish or or Semitic architecture you’ll know they had one bedroom so if you’re asleep as a dad or as a mom or as a Granddad or an uncle or a foster parent your kids are with you I don’t have separate bedrooms where they’re playing PlayStation or texting naughty things they don’t have that they’re with you in that one sleeping room so you’ve got the dad and then you’ve got the neighbor and so the neighbor comes over because the neighbor wasn’t prepared for a guest who comes to his house and didn’t text ahead of time and so he panics because he’s got nothing in the pantry he comes to the sleeping dad bangs in the door and says I need something tortillas you know just anything even those reduced fat Triscuits anything I’ve got to have something because I don’t have anything to put before this guy that is unheard of in their culture it’s hospitable culture you always had bread so the thing I love about the Bible because carbs are elevated in the Bible which I think is a good thing I think kale is just about from the devil but anyway anyway you always had bread this guy’s run out of bread so he painted he comes next door he starts banging on the door and when he’s banging on the door the dad goes go away I’ve already read the Bedtime Story we’ve already had the water we’ve already done everything we are asleep go away this is so rude and idea he’s audacious the guy’s persistent because he’s panicked he just keeps banging on the door because she’s like I need something to linguishing anything I need something to give my guest and it says because of his impudence the dad eventually gets up and gives them a snack for his guest and then usually the application is if you bang a little harder God will answer yeah that’s not biblically defensible it doesn’t even go with a story The Stranger Dr blomberg says likely represents an unbeliever dad represents God where are we where are we are we outside banging or are we inside reclining right next to our dad yeah this is less about prayer and it’s more about proximity.

It’s less about us banging on the door that doesn’t bear out with theological logic we don’t have to beg God to act on our behalf we’re favorite Sons and Daughters he loves us on our worst day we’ll get disciplined from our dad but not discipline because he’s a unibrow librarian who’s mad at us we get disciplined because he loves us he’s for us three years ago Missy and I went from Nashville to Kalispell Montana it was kind of toward the end of covid we were so excited to actually be leaving the house because you know during covet how you’re not traveling much and I travel a lot for work and I got so bored at home that I accidentally cut through my propane line with a chainsaw um it’s actually not hyperbolic I did almost killed us I’m single and old and my dad was a contractor so I know my way around a power tool and I was buzzing this this bush and I thought I just will do some landscaping and I’m kind of a slow reactor and I smelled propane and realized oh God I just cut a propane line almost killed us so I thought it’s good for us to get out of the house and so I was thrilled when Levi and Jenny said come up to Kalispell they have a church called Fresh Life and he said come up we’d love to love to host you at Kalispell and it took us a while to get there because you know that tail into covet there weren’t as many flights and so we flew from Nashville to Chicago a long way from Chicago finally got Kalispell Montana it’s late in the afternoon but I didn’t have anything to do until the next morning so I said hey baby you know since we’ve been sitting forever you want to go you want to go stretch your legs there’s some great hiking trails around here Missy said no ma’am I was like okay um I said well honey they’ve you know they’ve got a lake right by the hotel and there’s some canoes there you want to get in the canoe and go for a canoe ride no ma’am I was like okay well um we came through this darling Little Mountain Village on the way to the hotel and there was a candy shop there and they’ve got ice cream and chocolate all kinds of stuff you want to walk up and get some candy at the candy shop no ma’am and then I pulled out my piece to resistance I I and my apologies if you build these or like these but I I just abhor hotel pools um because I think they’re just like Big Basins of bacteria and so I I love pools but just not you know pools with that much strange flesh in it and so I don’t usually swim in a hotel pool’s Missy loves hotel pools so I kind of pulled the last trick out of my bag and I said baby you want to go swim in the hotel pool there’s like a big slide in everything and she said no ma’am it takes me a long time I am not the sharpest tool in the shed but I finally after four flat refusals realize I am getting on my child’s nerves you know she’s she was 11 at the time she’s just stepping into puberty and I thought oh my goodness I’m not her hero anymore I’m getting on a nerves and so I said honey am I getting on your nerves and she said yes ma’am and she said is that disrespectful I said no baby that’s not disrespectful that’s so normal as a matter of fact over the next few years I’m gonna get on your last nerve that’s part of what growing up is I said that’s not disrespectful honey that’s just normal so here’s the deal I’m going to draw an imaginary line down this hotel room and you get to stay on this side of the hotel room and you’ve got a little bit of homework you can do the homework on your iPad and then after that you watch whatever you want to watch and then I’ll stay on this side because I’ve got a little bit of homework too and we can just stay on our our separate size of the hotel room and if you need me just call me but I’ll stay over here and I I won’t bug you anymore and she said yes ma’am and a couple of hours went by in that companionable silence and then the sun went down it was time for us to get ready for bed and so we brushed our teeth they had two sinks and then we went to bed they had two beds Missy got in her little hotel bed and I got my little hotel bed I turned out the light maybe 30 seconds passed and then I heard my little girl and she said Mama will you come over here and cuddle me because I don’t think I’m gonna be able to go to sleep if you don’t come over here and cuddle me and I said I’ll tell you what you can do you can climb out of the window and you can get in the snow and you can walk through the snow and you can go to the concierge and you can ask the concierge if he’ll bring you up to this floor and then you can knock on the door and if you bang really loud then I might answer the door but I’m not sure do y’all think that’s what I did when she said my I just need to get Pentecostal for a minute I don’t feel like I really preach unless I the veins start poking out and I did spit a little bit Abby just just a little bit as fit we call that anointing yeah I didn’t tell her she had to go outside and bang on the door when she said Mama will you come over here and cuddle me y’all I leapt from my bed to hers and I brought snacks I mean this is my kid this is my daughter I will give her anything I have and my love for my kid pales next to God’s love for us we forget that we’re coheirs we forget that we’re right next to him we don’t have to bang he’s for us not against us one glance of your eyes you’ve captured his heart you don’t have to put on matching t-shirts and drive a long way to be in the presence of your creator Redeemer he loves you he loves you he is a perfect holy God that means he’s transcendent but he condescends to be close to us he’s a relational God he’s a father and he says you are my favorite you’re my favorite you’re my favorite you’re my favorite you’re my favorite you’re my favorite.

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