Some of my favorite pictures of Beej are when he was worshipping Jesus. You could see on his face that he was fully in the presence of God. You could see in his body language that in those moments, nothing was between him and the Lord. He loved to worship. Though I know that people worship our Savior in many different ways, I am often saddened at how clueless many of us seem in our efforts to worship our King.

We are supposed to bring Him our best, give Him our all. If the farthest we are moved is to stuff our hands deep into our pockets, and refuse to sing or even read the words...where is our worship? Too often, we then head off to a sporting event, and let loose for our team. Whoop, holler, scream, yell, howl. We don't hold back.

I am not suggesting we do those same things in church, I am suggesting that worship is a verb...it requires action. Where is our action? Why do we save it for ballgames? Is our relationship with our Lord so dead and boring that we will not budge for Him? If we have no more to offer God in our worship than a handful of pocket lint, then what in our relationship with Christ would anyone be interested in having? Are we the reason others won't come to Christ? Do they watch us and say if that is a Christian, I want no part of it?

A relationship with Christ is dynamic, exciting, two way, brimming with enthusiasm that draws others. If ours is old and dead, are we sheep or goats? Do our lives point to the King of Kings, or declare that the walk of a believer is boring and empty?

This past Sunday we had two sisters from another church give their best for Jesus. One sang, while her older sister did ballet for our King. It was precious, and I have no doubt that it brought a smile to my Saviors face! I found myself wondering if many of our churches would feel the same way.

I know David danced for the Lord...he did so with all of his might, according to scripture. How would David be received today if he ate bread from the temple when it wasn't time for the Lord's supper or danced before the King of Kings?

I do not expect everyone to agree with me on this, but at least we need to think about what our worship looks like. Are we giving our best, our all to Jesus, or are we thinking about lunch?

When I was nearly finished writing this, I got so antsy I had to get up. I went into Beej's closet. High up in a deep corner, buried under other "stuff," I found a notebook of compositions written two years ago. As I began to peruse its contents, I found this writing. Usually, he was given a topic, on this day it was a "freewrite"... he got to choose. Here is what was on his heart.

"What is of Great Concern to You?

The inauthenticity of people in general. It really bothers me how conditional people are. If it takes a great effort to keep a friend, something is wrong. Friends are supposed to be loyal and unconditional. Also [what concerns me] is the fakeness of many people who call themselves Christian. So many believe in a religion. That's the problem, and when others see it and how boring it is, they find themselves more confident and less guilty than the people who just do religion to reinforce or encourage themselves. No, religion is too boring, too requiring, too fake. People now say "I'm not religious, so I don't have to go to church." Two things: One, religion stinks, I don't blame you, but Two, God is more important than what you are and aren't. So why am I saying religion stinks while saying God is all important? Because God is not religion, He is reality. God did not intend for us to be religious, He intended for us to follow Him. All of these traditions, songs, and religious things are of humans and are worthless unless used in true authenticity to worship God. And what is worship beyond singing? Well, first singing isn't even worship. It is what is authentically felt and convicted of in the heart that is true worship. People think that singing loud, being in a choir, droning hymns, etc. is worship and is enough. It is not. You can worship anywhere. Anyway, back to what I was saying before, God doesn't intend for us to be just "religious" or have our attitude be of an exclusive (to other people or judgmental) one or a "Holier than thou," or a legalistic type of attitude. Instead, we should just try to get to know God, not just follow meaningless rules. We should also try to show others that God is far beyond these religious traditions, and droning sermons. We should show them and be an example to them about how truly fulfilling, satisfying, amazing and real God is when He is known and worshipped in true authenticity."

The picture in my mind of Beej praising Jesus with all of his might surely falls woefully short of the reality in heaven, but comfort flows from that mental snapshot!

dad