The Question that Hit Like a Cold Rain

     The question hit others like a cold rain, while it washed over me like a warm shower.
     We were sitting at a table talking about what true Christianity is when our facilitator asked, “How might your life be different if you believed that you have God’s full and undivided attention?” Two people said it rattled them to realize that God knew their every move. Not me. I felt warm all over because I recalled a particular day walking to school with my daddy when I was in kindergarten.     Daddy was principal at the school, so we walked together, my little hand reaching up high, buried in his. When we arrived at school, he went inside to his administrative office, while I stayed outside on the playground. But that day I tripped and fell, bloodying my knee. With no hesitancy, I ran inside, ran past the secretary who served as gatekeeper for administrators, broke into Daddy’s office, and jumped onto his lap in tears. He reached into his desk, pulled out a box of Band-Aids, patched me up, and hugged me.
     “That’s how God is,” I told my discussion partners at the table. “God is like my father, except he’s not far away in some remote office. He stays with me on life’s playground, and when I fall down, he patches me up.”
     They gasped at that thought, so different from their dread of a distant, brooding God.
​     So how do you feel about God giving you his full and undivided attention?