Love Does

 I just finished reading a book by Bob Goff called “Love Does.”  The premise of the book is that God calls us to live with whimsical love. The word whimsy means extravagant, fanciful, or playful.  To love whimsically means that sometimes you have to DO things and not worry about the expense, or whether the thing makes a whole lot of sense.  Goff told story after story of what it has looked like to love whimsically in his life, and I have to admit that I was jealous.  He has lived a life of adventure. As we get older, we get more cautious and conservative.  We worry about things a lot more than we did when we were younger. When I was younger, I didn’t worry about anything, and that’s not good either!  But I never want to get to the point where I don’t DO anything for fear of whether I can afford it, or whether I have time or who will feed my dog, or whether the house will be standing when I get home.

When the prodigal son returned home, his father ran after him and embraced him and kissed him.  He dressed him in the finest clothes, put a ring on his finger and killed the fattened calf so they could celebrate his return. That’s whimsical love.  It’s extravagant, expensive, over the top love. It was so much more than the prodigal could ever have hoped for, especially after the way he insulted his father by asking for his share of the inheritance while his father was still alive. I want to love that way.  

This afternoon at about 3:30 we heard that our nephew Luke will be graduating from US Navy Boot Camp on Friday in Chicago.  He has worked so hard to get to this point. About 5 weeks into the 8 week basic training program, they told him that he was not progressing well enough and they added 3 more weeks to his basic training.  He was devastated.  His graduation date was rescheduled to August 3, but the Navy tells all the families to buy flight insurance if they plan to attend graduation, because any trainee can be held back again at the last minute.  

Molly and I had been talking about going up to Chicago for the graduation but as the days passed with no assurance that Luke would graduate, we gave up on the idea.  But reading “Love Does” has changed my thinking. There’s no reason why we can’t go to Chicago on a moment’s notice to be at his graduation.  Well, actually there are a bunch of reasons why we can’t go, but whimsical love doesn’t worry about the reasons why we can’t go.  Instead, it figures out a way that we can go.  

So here’s the plan. Molly and I will drive through the night tonight to get to Chicago tomorrow morning.  It’s about a 12-13 hour drive.  We are going to go to the Chicago White Sox game at 1 pm.  I’ve never been to the new stadium so I can check another stadium off my list. (I swear that’s not the reason we are going!) Then we will meet up with Luke’s family, that’s Molly’s brother Paul, his wife Lois, and their kids who many of you have met.  They can only get 4 tickets to the graduation, so Molly and I won’t actually get to see the graduation, but we will see Luke after for a while.  I think it will mean a lot to him that we made the effort.  Then we will drive back on Saturday.  

Does that seem crazy? When I was young, I would have done it in a heartbeat.  Now that I am older, I hemmed and hawed.  But love does.  So we are doing it.  We are so proud of Luke and we want to be there to share his moment with him.  When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that was not convenient.  It was painful, humiliating, shameful and worst of all, He was separated from His Father while He bore His Father’s wrath for the sin of the world.  If He had not done it, none of us could be in heaven with Him someday.  He had to pay the penalty for our sins.  Love Does. That’s how Jesus showed His love for us. In comparison to that, what’s a drive to Chicago and back to show our love for our nephew?