"I Wanna See Jesus!"

Dear Girls,

So...Katie, you discovered the voice recognition search feature on my phone a couple of weeks ago.  And now you're totally obsessed.

It's actually pretty cute to watch.  You touch the microphone key and patiently waits until it's time to speak.  When the time comes, you blurt out whatever comes to mind first and insert "I wanna see..." or "Show me a..." in front of it.

It's usually pretty random.  I've heard you say, "I wanna see what a cavity looks like" followed by "Show me a submarine" and then, "I wanna know what milk is made out of."

It's adorable.

And it's funny...you don't even click on the search results that come up.  What you do is check for any images (since you can't read yet) to confirm that it did, in fact, hear your request and heed it properly.  If so, you move on to the next request.  Like, Tourretes-style.

The problem is that the voice recognizer thingy doesn't always "hear" your request properly.  So something like, "Show me how a pencil is made" will turn into "Shoby cow apprehensive dismayed" which obviously doesn't make a lick of sense and doesn't produce the results you want.  You do not take to this very well.  Especially when it happens several times in a row.

Just the other day you were "doing your research" while keeping me company as I took a shower.  (You're so sweet like that, knowing that I can't possibly stand to be alone for even a few minutes!)

Ahem.

Anyway.

Going about your usual, my poor phone clutched in your hand, you requested to see everything from what a human heart looks like to Little People videos.  Then you said it:

"I wanna see Jesus."

Apparently it didn't work, so you said it again.  A little more slow and pronounced this time.

"I want to see Jesus."

Nada.

Again, and I can hear the frustration in your voice.

"I want to see JESUS!"

Still nothing.  And at this point I'm trying to imagine what in the world it's actually coming up with.  But you were getting desperate and finally lost it...

[shouting, in true Katie fashion] "I SAID...I.WANT.TO.SEE.JE.SUS!!!"

And man, I can't get that outta my head.

I'm learning that out of all the things we teach you girls and of all the ways we try to keep your eyes on God, this one's a biggie...are you seeing Jesus in me? 

Are you seeing Jesus in me when a car pulls out in front of me while I'm driving?

...when you hear me talking with friends?

...when things are tense around here and I'm tempted to just flip?

Have I showed you that He is the Lord over my life and that I have surrendered it to Him completely?

Do my actions reflect Him?

And I know you're watching. My heart's burning desire is that you girls will grow to be women who love Jesus and will have a heart to show the world what He looks like.  In order for that to happen you need to learn what that looks like--and you'll learn that first through me.

I send you to school every day and pray for opportunities for you to shine the light into the dark places.  I pray that for myself as well, though I fear that sometimes when those opportunities arise, my flesh takes over and I find that I'm not always up to the task of allowing my Savior to shine through.  It happens.

But man...if the world has ever needed to see Jesus, it is now.  Every single time I turn on my computer or read the news or overhear a conversation, the only thing I hear amidst all the anger and perversion and hatred is:

"I want to see Jesus!"  Just.  Show me Jesus.

Not judgement, not condescension, not religion, not doctrine...

Just...Jesus.  That guy who hung around with sinners, not condemned them.  The guy bold enough to confront the "righteous" and make them think twice about the stones in their hands.  The guy always willing to stop and love on people and meet their needs no matter how tired or busy or overwhelmed he was.  The guy who dared to speak to the lowly women, or children, or even lepers, no matter what the popular beliefs were.

That man who was willing to speak and hold onto the truth--at all costs. 

Our Jesus.  We know him and love him.  A lot of the world does not.    

So today, I pray that we can all have the strength to courageously, unashamedly, and unapologetically show Him to the world.  In our home, at school, and everywhere we go.  Let's walk the walk.  I believe they really do wanna see it, don't you?

Love,

Photo // Death to Stock

Is there someone you know who needs to see Jesus today? What's one thing you can do to show them?