“For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” – Luke 9:26

     My dad has always been my biggest fan. As a youngster, I excelled in sports…and my dad was always an active part of my athletics.

     Early on, I played a lot of baseball. Summer after summer my dad would load up our truck and cart half of my team to our games. Home games, away games, regular games, all-star games, tournament games – my dad was at all of them.

     He was always there, in the stands, cheering on his son, proud as he could be of me…whether I made that game-winning unbelievable catch in the tournament game or I struck out with the bases loaded. I was his son and he was proud of me.

     Later, I began to play football. And, our games were on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, my dad had to work on Saturdays. I remember one Saturday morning I busted up the middle and ran for an 80 yard touchdown. It was my one moment in the spotlight in football (I was a skinny runt back then – not really made for football).

     I remember later in the game, thinking that I wished my dad could have seen me. It was then that I noticed a smiling father in the stands. He had come to the game on his lunch hour to see his son play.

     In high school, I switched sports again, this time choosing tennis. I ended up playing four years, and loved every minute of it.

     But, a strange thing happened as I began to play tennis. I really didn’t want my dad to show up for my matches. I was a full-fledged teenager and it wasn’t cool to have your dad hanging around.  I let my dad know that it wasn’t necessary for him to attend my first tennis match. Dad got the message, he wasn’t wanted there.

     I remember very well that day of my first match. I was a nervous wreck, not really knowing what to expect. I began the match and as I began hitting the tennis ball back and forth to my opponent, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a man walking slowly through the city park that adjoined the tennis courts.

     He proceeded with great caution towards the courts. And when he got within viewing distance of a certain son, he just stood there, off in the shadows, where no one could see him, just waiting to be invited over. And he watched me play my first match of tennis.

     He never said a word that day. Maybe he didn’t even know that I saw him. But, his actions said something to me that I’ll never forget. I may have been embarrassed by him, but he was as proud as ever of me.

     You know, I think that Jesus must feel like my dad sometimes. When we were “younger” we wanted Him to be around. We wanted Him involved in all the games of our lives. We longed to hear Him cheer us on and to be a part of everything we did.

     But somehow, if we’re not careful, we stop inviting Him to be a part of our lives. We get involved in things like work and hobbies and relationships where folks think it’s not cool to have Him around.

     And so, He stands there, off in the shadows, just waiting for us to invite Him over. He desires so very much to be an active part of our lives. He longs to have an intimate relationship with each of us.

     Christian, what about it today? Is Jesus off in the shadows somewhere because something else has taken His place?

     Why not invite Him over?