And dad's doing backflips!!

Once a quarter, our son, Josiah, goes on a two day soccer course. The local boys have two four-hour sessions of working on skills, plus they play several games in various teams. Josiah has been going for the past few years, and he always enjoys it. There is one thing, however, that has been ever elusive. That is the coveted "Goal of the Week." When Josiah was younger, he talked about it, but never expected to win it. More recently he has been getting close--honourable mention a couple of times, once he and one other boy were the best two goals, but the other boy got the trophy. Josiah never said much about it, but I knew he would be pretty pleased to finally win that one.

Well... yesterday it finally happened! My wife Pippa, our daughter Bethany, and I were there for the little awards ceremony that they always do at the end of the two days. And when it came time to announce the winner of "Goal of the Week", the coach said, "It was close again this time, but after some very good goals, the goal of the week goes to Josiah."

Josiah is a pretty low key guy. He just looked down at the ground and smiled. But that smile was speaking volumes to me. And what about me? I wanted to do backflips! I wanted to hug the coach (wholly inappropriate in most reserved British circles)! I wanted to duet with Louis Armstrong in a rousing chorus of "What a Wonderful World"!

I was probably more pleased about the event than Josiah was. I know how often he had gotten close but had not quite won the prize. And I knew that he didn't make a big fuss or complain about not winning, even when it was between him and one other boy. And I knew that this was a pretty special thing for him. Oh yeah, I was very pleased!!

This morning, while out on my morning dog walk, I was reflecting on this whole event and began to think of how often we forget that God is a loving Father who delights in us, and thoroughly enjoys our victories and achievements--those times when we overcome that major temptation, when we hold our tongue and don't give in to some serious anger, when we show kindness to that person that seems to be ignored most of the time like old wallpaper.

The words that were ringing in my ears were: "If you then, though you are evil... how much more will your Father in heaven?" (Luke 11:13). Does God do backflips over us? I wouldn't like to make a categorical statement on that one. Does he delight in us, his children? Absolutely! I think sometimes we get so caught up with "trying to get it right" that we forget that he is our "Abba, Father" and he loves to see us make good. I found that to be a pretty amazing thought!