God's Favorite Word

And other recent writings

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God’s Favorite Word

If you ask me, I will tell you. I will tell you God is good and life is hard. I will tell you to keep going, but look back. I will tell you to see what God has done as you prepare for what He will do. And I know what He will do: He will carry you through. My friend told me that he knew what God’s favorite word is. It isn’t love. It isn’t mercy. It isn’t grace. It isn’t sin. It isn’t fear. It isn’t hope. God’s favorite word is ‘through.’ As in, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” As in, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” As in, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” As in, “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Ask me what I know and I will tell you that God will carry you through. 

Emergency Contact

I sat in the waiting room of the dermatologist's office, waiting for my name to be called. This wasn’t where I wanted to be. I’d rather be at home, a coffee shop, or, ideally, Disney World. I always wanted to be at Disney World. But here I was.

One by one, those around me were called back.

“Herb.”
“Mary Ann.”
“Chuck.”
“Lou.”

I was the youngest in the room by at least 30 years.

Just before my name was called, a man walked in. He approached the counter slowly, his southern accent warm and easy.
“Mornin’ y’all,” he said to the women sitting at the front desk.
“Hello there, Larry,” one of the ladies replied, matching his tone.
They chatted for a moment.
Weather.
Traffic.
Football.
“You got an emergency contact, Larry?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
“Well, who is it?”
“Well, it’s the Man upstairs.”

Larry’s comment hung in the air. Not awkward or uncomfortable, but the kind of silence that says, “Really?”
“You know Him?” Larry asked, with what I can only imagine was a smile on his face.
“You bet I do. He’s my emergency contact, too.”

It’s the Little Reminders

It’s the little reminders for me. The sunlight shining through the trees. The white clouds floating in the blue sky. The dog riding with its head out the window. The elderly couple holding hands. The small child pointing at everything and anything. A full table on a Friday night. A slow afternoon on a Saturday. Communion on a Sunday morning. Samples at Costco, a text from an old friend, a kind exchange between two strangers. It’s a perfect peach during the summer and a warm bowl of chili during the cold of winter. It’s a few green lights on the way home. It’s the little reminders for me. Reminders of grace. Reminders of mercy. Reminders of hope. The moments that remind me life gets better. The moments that tell me beauty is all around. The moments that bring me back to what I’ve known all along: life is worth living.

I’ve Been Thinking

I’ve been thinking about how we don’t really want what the world is selling us. We don’t need another car or bigger house. We don’t need everything in an instant or to have the world at our fingertips. We don’t need to be worried about the unknown or distracted by technology. What we truly want is to be together and to be okay and for the dinner table to be crowded. We don’t want to see another insurance or political commercial again. I think we are good there. Mostly, we want peace. We want a simple life to be affordable. We want our children to be safe and our parents to be happy. We want our neighbors to feel seen and loved. We want to celebrate the small things and also, get rid of Valentine’s Day and Daylight Savings Time. Or whichever one it is that makes it darker earlier. We want to slow down and not keep up with the Joneses or Johnsons or whoever you’re comparing yourself to. Mostly, we want to be at home in a world that isn’t our home. To enjoy the short life we have. To live this life as a gift, not a burden. To hear we are loved and to believe it. We want to go for walks and watch the sun rise and set. We want to leave this world a better place and maybe the only way we know how to do that is by looking each other in the eye and saying, “Come over for dinner,” “Hope you have a nice day,” “I’m proud of you.”

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back soon with more!

With hope,

Tanner

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