God in the Boof

Originally written in August 2012:

Walmart has a new product or at least, new to me. It's a plastic mesh shower ball - I call them "boofs" - that now has soap chips in it so the first time you use it, you've already got the soap loaded and ready to go. Despite its brilliance, my sister and I laughed about it and for some reason, thought it was a little gross. I did, however, buy it out of necessity. Little did I know that weird little product would minister to me just when I needed it the most. Last night, as we continued to shop in Walmart, Mom called to tell us that a connecting flight was late, the next flight left without her and she couldn’t get to us until the next morning, well into the time we’d fully expected to be whooping it up at a local park. She was beyond distraught and for the next couple of hours it would be a struggle to help her get rest and peace of mind while getting the rest of the family organized to plug into this new set of circumstances. As the oldest, I feel a duty to “filter” difficult circumstances for my family as much as possible and along with that, I desired for this vacation to be a recharge for everyone. I am very blessed to be trusted enough for my family to flow with me and with these two goals in mind, off we went. Admittedly though, after needing to be on the phone with my mom every few hours throughout the night, I got in the shower around 6am, tired and with nerves a bit frayed. It’s when God showed up in my boof. As I washed with this weird little thing that had the soap chips tucked in the folds of the plastic mesh, our precious Lord reminded me that it’s the thing within that cleanses the external filth this world can bring. “Going away on vacation”, and all its manifestations of escape, doesn’t fix the world’s ills; on the contrary, it may be the very worldy thing you escape into that causes trouble. If the soap represents God and the mesh is the application in the form of prayer, being loving, contrition, confession and service, it is only THAT that cleanses us, refreshes us and makes us new. Through the act of deliberately stepping into God’s space (in this case, it was the solitude of a shower), we can then step out and get back into the unpredictability of our circumstance covered with His strength. Ultimately, my goal is that our family will leave our precious time together with memories of JOY. It’s the prize I’m keeping my eye on. You know, I laughed at that mesh ball in the beginning as some unbelievers can do with Christianity. I have come to discover, however, that I can BE that “mesh ball” for my family with God inside me. I can control my controllables: my behavior, my responses, my flow, my encouragement…and through God, all things are possible.  Much love…