Questions and Answers

They asked my friend over and over again about words that rhyme.  They picked everything from dog and cat to root beer and shirt.  There was no real method to their madness.  But it soon became apparent that this was a never-ending game.  As cute as these moments can be, they eventually lose their luster, and at least in my mind, I contemplate when the boys will really understand how to rhyme.  This is not a criticism--more my relational side trying to figure out how we ever learn how to rhyme in the first place.  What part of our brain finally gets this?

The other day we were hanging out with one of my friends when the boys began the rhyming game.

            I wonder if it is this kind of logic that causes us to doubt whether we can ask questions as Christians.  I think at some point in our faith walk–just like in school--there is that fear that we are expected to just know certain things like rhyming, or other skills.  I will not deny any truth in that, but I think the thing about giving Christians questioning permission is that there will always be questions and they will always be ok to ask.

            One of my favorite parts of being a youth pastor was answering questions. For the most part, youth didn’t have this fear that they were expected to know things, so they felt free to ask questions.  It was fun to dig into the different pieces of Scripture.  I am always looking for the part of Scripture where I ponder why God said that. Those are the things that keep blogs and sermons coming with new themes.  All of this type of question and answer is a beautiful and amazing thing with God.  We will never really grasp Scripture in its entirety, or have a complete understanding of Jesus until we are in Heaven.  So until then, we continue to ask questions and seek the answers from our Lord and Savior.

            This weekend Dan Bodin, one of our fieldworkers, will help us think through some questions and answers on a parable.  Hopefully some of those questions will be the ones that we have wanted to ask.  But either way, it will remind us once again that just like two little boys playing the rhyming game, our Father in Heaven always wants us to ask questions and learn more.