Coming to God as a Child (Part 6): Catch Me!

By David Ryser

My one-year-old grandson was hanging upside-down as I held onto him by one of his ankles.  He was laughing and squealing with delight.  I was on the verge of having a heart attack.

And I was learning something about the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus tells us that we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child.  I have discovered that little children do weird things.  For example, they like to climb up onto a couch or chair and wait for you to come by.  As you walk past them, they will leap from their perch and shout, “Catch me!”

Adults do not do this.

When you hear the words, “Catch me!” you had better be ready to catch somebody, because that child is already in the air.  The decision to jump has been made and executed.  Only the catch is in question.

And it is a question only for the one doing the catching.

My grandson played a variation of the “catch me!” game with his father.  When being held, he would suddenly launch himself backwards out of his father’s arms.  His father would catch him, and the two of them would have a big laugh about it.

The problem is that no one had bothered to tell grandpa about this game.

I don’t blame my grandson for this oversight.  He was only a year old.  And grandpa is the first person in a baby’s life that throws him up into the air and makes him laugh until he pukes.  So how was he to know of my ignorance?

Does this sound like a recipe for disaster?

So I’m standing in the middle of our living room, holding my grandson in my arms.  Suddenly, and without warning, he launches himself backwards out of my grasp.  Down he goes--laughing all the way--toward the floor.  I’m flailing in the air trying to snatch onto any available body part before he lands on his head.

At the last moment, I grab onto one of his ankles.

So now he is hanging upside-down with his head mere millimeters from the floor.  And he is laughing!  And it’s not just polite laughter…he’s cackling like a hen that’s just laid 3 eggs.  I’m gasping for breath (and trying to retrieve my wits) as my heart attempts to blast through my rib cage.

And as I look at my grandson, I realize that he never at any time thought he was in danger.  And I ask myself, “Why can’t I be like that with God?”

Because I’m not.

When I’m standing on life’s “couch” and God is passing by, I don’t leap and cry out, “Catch me!”  I don’t launch out for Him with total abandon knowing He will catch me.  Instead, I want to be sure He will catch me before I jump.  And I won’t just take His word for it.  I want to see in the Bible that He promises to catch me.  Then I want to go to Bible College to make sure what the Bible says is true.  And then I want to go to Graduate School to craft my theology of jumping.  And then…well, you get the idea.

By the time I’m ready to jump off of the couch, God has already moved on…a long time ago.

The problem is that we don’t trust God.  And where does this mistrust come from?  We aren’t born with it.  If we were, then little children wouldn’t play the “catch me!” game.  So where does it come from?  And when did it happen?

I don’t know.

By that, I mean that I know why and how this mistrust of God operates in me.  But each of us has a unique history, so the reason you mistrust God may be different than mine.  Whatever the source of our mistrust, we must deal with it if we are ever going to have adventures in God’s Kingdom.

And everyone has this problem to one degree or another.

How many times do we read in the Bible where God or an angel appears to someone and says, “Don’t be afraid…”?  Even after God gave orders to Joshua, Gideon, and others, He commanded them to be of good courage and dealt with their fear.  Paul exhorted Timothy not to be timid, but rather to be courageous in his ministry.

Why would it be any different for us?

If we are going to go on God’s adventures and do exploits in the Kingdom of God, we must learn to trust Him.  We need to overcome our mistrust of God.  We will face the source of our mistrust and overcome it.

And it won’t be a lot of fun.

We will need to be willing to see the truth about ourselves.  And the process will involve some pain.  Maybe a lot of pain.  But until we trust God, we will never follow Him with total abandon.

Like a one-year-old child flying out of his father’s arms saying, “Catch me!”

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com