Waltzing into God's Office #2

On the same day Nancy Perot waltzed into her dad’s office, Perot’s son Ross Jr. also stopped by to say hello to dad. Ross Jr. was older than Nancy and immediately caught a sense of what was going on in his dad’s office that day. He recognized Bull Simons, a retired army colonel famous for an attempted POW prison raid and realized that his father must be planning a rescue mission.

Perot knew his son had caught on and so began to talk with him about what he wanted Ross Jr. to do in the event something happened to his dad. In particular, he asked his son to leave college—although he knew it would be a sacrifice--to come home and raise his sisters properly. Ross Jr. immediately replied with tears in his eyes, “Dad, that’s what I would have done even if you’d never brought it up.” The father and son reached a new level of closeness that day.

There are two things that are interesting to think about in this story.

First, Nancy and Ross Jr., despite their differing levels of maturity and responsibility, had equal access to their father. Both were free to stop in at any time. Both shared equally in their father’s love and attention that day. This is what God’s relationship with His children is like. We all have equal access and we each enjoy all his love and attention. So if you have something on your mind that you want to talk about with God, don’t deprive yourself because you think there are other people He’s going to pay more attention to. Billy Graham is not at the front of the line monopolizing all of God’s attention. God wants to hear from you no matter whether you’re a brand new Christian, a long-time Christian who really hasn’t paid much attention to Him for awhile or a world class evangelist. We all can waltz into the office anytime.

Second, Ross Jr. accepted responsibility from his father because he was ready to do so. It was natural and not some big, awful turning point. Some of us are afraid to get closer to God because we think He may ask us to give up something or do something hard. (I had lunch with a friend awhile back who told me she was afraid to get closer to God because He might bring hard stuff in her life into force her to grow more—and she was afraid NOT to get closer to God because He might bring hard stuff into her life to force her to draw close!) Yet, in my experience, God generally asks us to take on harder stuff only when we become mature enough and aware enough that taking on responsibility seems pretty much the natural thing to do--like Ross Perot Jr.’s reaction to his father. We are ready and willing to accept it even if we’d rather take an easier path. Like Ross Jr., we’re ready to say, “Of course, that’s what I think is best. That’s what I would have done anyway.” And do you think Ross Jr. walked away from the office that day thinking, “Boy, I wish I did not stop by?” I’m sure he was instead thinking, “I hope everything goes OK but, if not, at least I’m glad I had that talk with my father. I’m glad I know what he wants me to do and he has confidence in me.”

So don’t hesitate to waltz into God’s presence and enjoy your parent/child relationship because God might be handing out tough chores today. If you are at the “Nancy” stage you will enjoy a wonderful time snuggling with your dad and you will not be handed responsibilities you can’t handle. If you are at the “Ross Jr.” stage you will also enjoy a wonderful time with your father and you will be at the point that you quite naturally and with little regret accept whatever He has in store for you.