More than I could imagine

In the end of Chapter three of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul prays a prayer for the people that read his letter.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we can ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

These past few weeks leading up to Ryan’s ordination, the Holy Spirit helped me recall a memory. It was when Monday Night Nitro was just beginning. I’m guessing it was about 25 years ago. It was exciting. Mike had moved Nitro from his basement to his barn because there were so many kids coming, and they wouldn’t fit in the basement.

I helped Mike with what I could. Sometimes I would help set up chairs in the barn. We didn’t have a video projector screen yet, so I hung a sheet on the door for the video projector. I remember one night was going to be special. Maybe a special guest was going to speak, or we had a made a cool video that we were going to show, but I was unable to go to Nitro that night. You see, one of my kids had a baseball game, and I needed to be there.

At the time, I was trying to work on my priorities in life. They went like this:

God
Family
Work
Church

I still struggle with keeping these priorities balanced in my life, but I knew that Monday Night Nitro even though it was a good thing, and we shared Jesus with the teens. Nitro was not God. So, when the decision came to decide wether to go to Nitro or the kids baseball game I knew that family and the baseball game came first.

I recall Mike and I talking about it, and we both thought family should come first, but we were both disappointed about me not being able to be there for this “special night” even though I can’t remember what was going on now.

I remember telling Mike something like, “Besides, God can do a lot more through my children than he could ever do through me.”

This past weekend I have felt a love of Christ that it is hard to “comprehend the breadth and the length and the depth and the height” of this love. This love has come through the people of God. This love has come in the form of greetings, handshakes, hugs, texts, calls and the work of a small army of God. This love has come in the form of presence, when it’s not easy to get there. This love has come in the form of food, dancing, eating and drinking. This love has come in the form of prayer. Prayers that I have seen answered before my very eyes.

I have been blessed to see the Lord work and do a lot through all of our children’s lives, and this weekend I got to see him work through Ryan in a special way.

It’s more than I could have ever imagined.