I’ve always prided myself on being a person who is ready to talk about God and Christianity at all times. Many times when I’m around people who are “less churched” than myself, I look for opportunities to share nuggets of wisdom about God. Maybe teach them something that could help them in their own spiritual walk no matter where they are at with God. Last weekend, everything got flipped upside down, and I’ve been thinking about what I learned for the past week.

My oldest brother Kevin is a “man’s man”. Especially when it comes to emotions. He’s always been very matter-of-fact, straight-forward, and unemotional when it comes to things that most would consider sentimental. I’ve never seen the guy cry in my entire life. Not over anything. I don’t want to mislead you or anything. It would be a mistake for me to make him sound like some kind cyborg or something, because he’s not. He’s extremely intelligent, very funny, a tremendously hard worker, and a great husband. He’s very well-liked by all who know him. All I’m saying is that he’s not the one who’s going to cry at weddings, or get all emotional when watching “The Notebook” for the first time!!

There are 2 more things that you must know: With Kevin, I’m often times looking for a chance to share Christ’s love with him. I won’t force-feed it, but if the opportunity comes, I’m ready to teach/share!! The other thing you must know is that he and his awesome wife, Michele, just had twins about 4 months ago. So they are both experiencing parenthood for the first time.

Finally the story, my wife and I went over to help my parents baby-sit the twins on Saturday night. When Kevin got home he immediately made a beeline for his son who was a bit fussy at that point in the evening. Kevin lifted his son up slowly and gently, and then he kissed him on the head and began to talk to him. After a brief shower (in the sink!!) Kevin put his son to sleep and rejoined us in the living room. We talked about life for a little bit, and without me even asking, my brother expounded to me yet again about how great it is for him being a father. This is probably the 3rd time in the last 4 months that he has had this conversation with me. This time he said a couple of things that I can’t get out of my head:

First, he told me that he loves those kids so much that he can’t even put words to it. (This is pretty amazing considering that he’s a Lawyer and a vocabulary beast for the most part!!) He told me that it’s similar to what it was like when he first started dating his wife. All he could think about was her and about what they were going to do together in the future. That’s the way he feels about his children everyday. The second thing he said is that, “On Tuesday I had a busy day at work, I had to leave early and get home late so I never got to interact with the twins that day.” Then he said, “It’s almost like … I wanted to kill myself for going a whole day without seeing them. That’s how much I love being with those kids”. (He would never kill himself; he was just searching for the words to make his point) As he was saying this to me, his eyes were all teary. I could feel the emotion in his words. It was a very powerful moment.

Then I realized that my “relatively-unspiritual” brother just taught me a very important lesson about God. One that I forget about all too often: As Kevin was talking to me I was thinking to myself, wouldn’t that be great if we all had a father who loves us as much as Kevin loves his kids?? A father who is loving, tender, caring, and gentle?? A father who is DYING to spend time with us as much as he can?? … Then it hit me: …Duhh!! We do have a Father in heaven who loves us leven more than Kevin loves his twins. Why don’t I think about God that way more often?? Why do I catch myself thinking of God as being judgmental?? Why don’t I just relax and spend time with God the Father, knowing that the greatest joy I can bring to God’s life today would be to choose to spend time with him in prayer or in His Word. He couldn’t be more pleased than to just spend time with me (by my choice)??

This story just goes to show that sometimes the best sermons/ the most memorable lessons I’ve learned are acted out in real life by people who aren’t even trying to teach me anything. I wonder if God orchestrated that moment in my life to teach me something about Him. And, (GASP!!) …He even has the power to use people other than my pastor to teach me about Him!!