Wide-Eyed with Wonder

No one wants a preacher who's a know-it-all, or just going through the motions. The antidote is something to marvel about.

During my first pastorate in northeastern Minnesota, I befriended an older parishioner, Howard Ballou, a dairy farmer with huge hands and soft eyes. Throughout his long life (91 years), Howard suffered many losses: the death of his 10-year-old son, the sale of the family-run dairy farm (and his precious Guernsey cows), and the death of his wife and lifelong sweetheart, Chloe. Toward the end of his life, after the reconstruction of both knees, Howard struggled and ached. The once strong dairyman who worked 14-hour days now clung to his aluminum walker with each painful step. At times, his body and his spirit shook with sadness.

But until his last breath, one thing Howard never lost: his almost childlike sense of wonder.

When I visited Howard six months before his death, he had a Bible (open to Leviticus 13) and a TV Guide perched on his lap.

"Howard," I asked, "what are you doing with Leviticus and TV Guide?" Howard chuckled and said, "God is so amazing. I'm reading my Bible from cover to cover, and I'm watching all the nature shows I can. I still have so much to learn."

At the age of 91, Howard lived before God with unquenchable wonder.

As preachers it's sometimes easy to lose our wonder for God's Word. After a while we can approach the Bible like a guy I knew who was planning another sailing trip around the Caribbean. He nonchalantly told me, "Yeah, next week I'll be sailing the Caribbean again—for the fifth time. Sure, it's beautiful—crystal clear ocean, blue skies, hot sun, white sandy beaches, warm wind in your face—but how many times can you see the same stuff? I mean, it's nice, but it just gets a little wearisome. It's such a burden sometimes."

I wanted to grab the guy and say, Are you nuts? Dude, how about if I take your place? Why don't you just lay your "burden" down and I'll carry it for you?

Sadly, sometimes we approach Bible texts like this dullard. Been there, done that. Yeah, I've read Exodus before. Sure (yawn), I preached the Resurrection last year. Well, I guess I have to do Romans again.

How much better to talk about God's Word in a way that's fresh and alive. Then we can also ask the Holy Spirit to enable our people to hear God's Word with amazement—even if they've heard this text a dozen times before. How do we do that? How do we live before God and then preach as one fully alive? To read more, click here.