Backflips

“He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me…” Luke 20:3 NIV

I have mentioned that my son has a friend named Hollis. The two of them have forged a friendship in spite of communication issues, specifically that my son doesn’t talk much. Hollis is undeterred. While Korbin uses few functional words, he can talk constantly. He can recite books, movies, commercials, facts and scenes from his mind, not always in English. However, he does not engage in conversation very often.

Hollis has no such issue. He talks all the time, and this has actually been a pretty cool thing for us to see. He verbalizes things that help us understand how our son may be looking at situations. He also asks questions in bulk. He will Facetime me and just ask “Do you any ice cream sandwiches?”. If I say no, he will just suggest that I get some. If I say yes, he just hangs up. Information gained.

One visit to our house he just asked “Did you guys clean before I came over? It’s kind of a mess.” That young man doesn’t have a single negative thought in his mind. He was simply stating a fact, our house was kind of messy that day.

One of my favorites happened a couple of weeks ago. He had a doctor’s appointment and after a bit the good doctor asked if he had any questions. Straight faced and actually wondering he asked, “If you do a backflip off of a building and land on a UPS truck what would happen?” Highly trained, the doctor asked him “How fast is the truck going?” Hollis answered “Fast”. The doctors reply was simply “It doesn’t look good buddy”.

I know people who ask a lot of questions. Sometimes I ask a lot of questions. Hollis has reinforced the concept of not complicating life. He just has a need for information. I say bring it on. I’ll gladly answer every question he can muster while constantly hoping that my son will one day ask more. I’ll have that hope the rest of my life and I am willing to wait.

Growing up we were not taught to really question God. We really did not question our parents much either, well Sally did but not the rest of us. She kind of pulled my parents kicking and screaming into the 20th century. That made my life easier. I kind of remember thinking that if I had a question it may actually be wrong. Please understand, I do not think of that as having hindered me at all. It was just the way it was, and I would not change a lot about how I grew up. I used to wonder things like after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, how long did he live? Why do we need mosquito’s?

The old man in me wonders if my parents would be proud of me, still. I wonder if God is. I wonder why my dad had Alzheimer’s and my son has Autism. Those two conditions are strikingly similar. What am I supposed to learn from both of them? I wonder, when I get to heaven if all of the questions I have will be answered. I wonder if I will still have questions. After all, when I am standing in the presence of my Savior, will any of them matter. I have this picture in my mind of God. I think He constantly hopes I will ask Him more, even though I may not understand the answer. I think He will answer some and love me through the rest. He too, is willing to wait.

What questions do you have of God?

Ask Him, all of them. He may be waiting.

Challenge: Accept either a firm answer or a silent pause, He loves you in both.

Rick Claiborn