Childlike wonder was a post I wrote on June 27, 2006.  June 27 was the day after my first round of golf for that year.  Being a person who loves to golf, that is a very late start date for me, but this year was even later.  This past weekend was my first weekend out and let me tell you, I felt like a little kid golfing with my dad for the first time in a couple years (I didn’t golf with my dad last year).  It was a moment of "childlike wonder" that I haven’t felt for awhile and it is something I don’t want to wait another year to experience.

My dad taught me the game of golf and I have many, many fond memories of my dad and I golfing on various golf courses.  I still remember the lessons he taught me about golf (and life for that matter).  And my dad still knows how to get into my head.  He tried doing that on the ninth hole (of my first round of the year), but this time I was ready.  He said, "You know, you and I are tied".  This use to get to me.  I would dwell on the fact that I have a chance to beat my dad and would usually end up messing a shot or two up and therefore lose to my dad.  On Friday my dad’s ploy did not work.  I cracked off a good drive; stuck my next shot just short of the green; my chip shot stopped just short of the hole and I tapped in for a par — my dad and I tied (we each shot a 44).  You can about imagine the "childlike wonder" I experienced at that moment.

[Side note:  The next day I shot a 43 but my dad shot a 41.  No mind games there, I just fell a little short, but the "childlike wonder" was still there.]

Imagine if we could always have this "childlike wonder" in our faith as well…

The late Michael Yaconelli (founder and former president of Youth Specialties) wrote a book called Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith.  It is a book I have read many times and a book I will be reading again.  Childlike faith is something that too many people grow out of but Mike would argue that childlike faith is something we need to reclaim.  So I commend this book to your reading.  It is short book of 145 pages — a fun and quick read.  But by the way of a short synopsis:  Childlike wonder is like the wonder and fascination of a two year old experiencing a soft and fluffy snow for their very first time.  The experience is so awe inspiring that their senses cannot take everything in fast enough and therefore nearly "short circuits" their brain from information overload.  How much more AWESOME is God. 

The danger for the church is the loss of this "childlike wonder" of God.

Now…imagine how fast and big the church would grow if more people had a "childlike faith"…<pause to ponder and dream>…a "childlike faith" that drove people to pursue God in order to attempt to "take everything in" to a point where our brains (and hearts) would go into overload because of the AWESOME love and grace of God.  Just imagine…

…it is time for me to start reading again.  Take care and God bless.
-edh-