Dreaming of a Faucet That Never Shuts Off!

I'm a jeans and t-shirt guy. I don't dress up. I'm not comfortable. I'm not me - or maybe I'm just lazy, you'll have to decide. I'm not a slob either it's just that I like comfort. When I do dress up I typically get a couple-three reactions. The first reaction is one of almost sympathy. "Awww, why are you so dressed up." "As if" someone must have died to get Rob to dress up. The other two are anger and fear where people sound as if they are mad that I look different or suspicious and want to know "WHY are you so dressed up?" The point is that when I decide to wear something different they notice a change.

Have you ever been out and had to use the restroom at a business that has those sinks with the water saving faucets? Not the automatic ones but the one that requires you to press a large plunger-type button. You press the button and out comes about... 1 second of water. So you play this game of trying to "Beat the Clock" trying to press the button and get enough time to wash your hands. Why is it that I always seem to pick the faucet set to give the most impossible meager amount of water? Why can't I control the water flow?

Control! We love control. We don't like to let someone or something else control our lives. Jesus teaches us in the Lord's Prayer (see Luke 11:1) that it is not our kingdom but God's. Martin Luther also explains (curiously) that we are not praying for God's kingdom to come. There is that control again. Luther says that God's kingdom will come whether we pray or not - whether we like it or not. God's kingdom will come! So why pray this part of the prayer at all? Luther explains that we are not praying for God's kingdom to come, we are instead praying for God's kingdom to come into our lives. We are praying for a kingdom to come and change us, to let God be in control.

So if God has a faucet, He invites us to approach and we would find the water already running. In fact the water has always been running, always will be running. All God asks of us is to roll up our sleeves, extend our hands and let His water wash us, cleanse us, forgive us, renew us and His Holy Spirit to lead us.

His kingdom, His living water will change us and when we change... people notice.

Amen.