like... everything has a 'like'... like, right?

"like... everything has a like... like right?"

i can almost hear these words rolling out of a teenagers mouth between bubble gum bubbles popping, with their head cocked slightly to the right and a little bit of a confused look on their face... or maybe just the honest question of a 5 year old (pretty much the same... like right ?).

no doubt i would have a confused look too until i realized what was being asked. the question is, "everything has a comparison... a "like"... right?"

coke is "like" ... crazy bubbling sugar water in your mouth.
OR... man, that felt "like" the time grandma hit me with the broom trying to kill that bat i brought home.
OR... it feels "like" it is about to rain
you get the picture...

comparison... it is how we communicate present circumstances based on passed experiences to help people take ownership in a moment. we all do it and sometimes it is quite accurate... "like" about a year ago when diana and lilly and i were in DICKS SPORTING GOODS walking around "like" 3 kids in a candy store. lilly and diana were walking by a mannequin being used to model UNDERARMOUR sports clothing. if you have not seen these mannequins, then you may not be able to grasp the truth and impact of what happened next... but these guys are RIPPED... "like", their muscles have muscles that have muscles that are on steroids. but anyway, lilly walks by, sees these "MAN"nequins, turns to diana and says... his muscles are "like" almost as big as dads!!! so true my child... so true... haha

but what about when these comparisons begin to fall apart or just do not do justice to the moment, person, or circumstance. i mean... it is the best we have right? but, there are times when we just do not have the words or even the past experiences to try to find words to compare with...

like tonight ... when i watched diana hold lilly and rock her to sleep in tears as the enormity of how our lives are about to change set in on an 8 year old mind. those were tears like... i dont know what they are like... it was like whatever the thing is that makes a daddy desparately want to fix everything for his little girl or make her not scared, but knowing this was bigger than what i had to offer on my own... it pulled and pressed on my heart "like" even I have not felt before. i wanted to reach into her little mind and put everything at ease or understand what she must be feeling about all that is about to happen, but i had nothing... so i did the only thing i knew to do.

i reached my arm around both of them and prayed to the only ONE i know that understands those moments that leave us with no words or comparisons or even response... the moments when we have no experience to call on or human means to 'fix' it with...

scripture in ISAIAH 40:25-26 tells of a God who knows the unique circumstance of being uncompareable, indescribable, beyond words, thought, or measure... check this out..
²⁵ "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

here is how THE MESSAGE SAYS IT...

^25-26"So—who is like me?
Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.
Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
and never overlooks a single one?

i LOVE THIS!!! the God beyond compare who does God stuff beyond compare... who exists in and creates the moments that we can't even make up much less find a "like" for... or some human words or actions to try to describe or manipulate the situation. moments like those require a God who can go places we can't see or haven't even dreamed exist and do things we didn't even know NEEDED done, much less how to do them. i want THAT God... i NEED that God...
a God that is BIGGER than my biggest BIG, GREATER than my greatest GREAT, ... just without compare. that was the God i wanted tonight wrapping up my little girls heart and holding my entire family for the rest of our lives.

we are in the midst of days where it feels "like" these moments are coming faster than we can process them... each one new, different than any emotion we have to draw on from the past, exciting "like" nothing i can remember or imagine. it is a little crazy, a lot humbling, very exciting...

and in a few days we will meet and hold our boys for the first time, and a few days after that we will bring them home to their sister and their new home and new family and life... and again, there will be no words, no metaphors, no comparisons, no "likes" ... that make sense or fit. but there WILL BE a God... that is beyond words, beyond metaphors, without comparison, without "LIKE"... right there penning the whole thing and smiling... 'like' an excited dad watching His kids getting to experience the thing He loves most and that He used to reconnect creation to creator...

ADOPTION...

thank you God that you exist in the places that i don't have words for, the moments i can't get to or reach... that you are big enough to march the stars out at night, call them by name, and put them in a place that leaves the human spirit in awe... and that you are mindful of me and my family ... and have invited us into this story... next chapter... "like" ... let's go!!!