The Perfect Stranger

I have really been diving into the idea of ask, seek, knock.

And because of that...I have really been buying into the idea of receive, find, open.

And as I continue to explore what I truly want to ask, seek, and knock on God's door to do in and with my life, I think back to my previous conversations with Him and how I closed, lost, and masked the potential of mine and His working relationship by a simple unwillingness to recognize his desire for me to be his child, to come to him and let him have it.

I think it's interesting that for a portion of our adolescent and adult lives that we often fall into heyhowareya passerby conversations with God. With a few exceptions... it may look something like this...

"Dear God, thank you for this day, thank you for my family, please keep them safe. Please let your will be done in all things, thank you for Your Son. Amen"

There is nothing wrong with that prayer, nothing at all. But when I think about the conversations I have with the people I hold closest, the people who mean the very most to me and whose relationships I cherish, those conversations go a little bit differently. With those people, I don't just meander around and give the general overview of my situation and why its so terrible or great - I go into detail about importance of what I want - what I need. I speak on specific things.

Check it...

And yet here I have this almighty Creator who breathed his very own life into me to create the pleasant obnoxiousness that is documented on this very page and apparently I have the spikes to speak to him with the same beige vagueness that I reserve for that super sweaty guy at the gym who is SO interested in spotting me? What a knuckle-head. God is not an acquaintance - He is our Father.

Jesus would literally go off for hours upon hours just to talk to Daddy dearest! And in that quality time, I can't imagine him looking at the dirt, kicking stones and sharing with poppa-bear something like...

"Dear Dad, thanks a lot for this day, thanks for the apostles and please keep them safe. I hope everything works out for You, thanks for...well....um....me. Amen."

I highly doubt it. What I don't doubt is the ever present need to be intentional and specific with my conversations with God.

So here is my recipe for success/my self-help book/ my manifesto if you will...


Be specific...ask, seek, knock...mustard seeds.


Steven D. Arnold