Last night my little girl screamed bloody murder in the middle of the night. My heart was pounding as I erupted from my bed and ran like a madman into her room. She was terrified and wouldn’t let go of me. As I held Kailey in my arms, trying to comfort her, I asked her what had scared her. She said, “monsters” in between her heavy breathing and sobs.
I gave her the “who is here to protect you?” speech. And she gave me the obligatory “God” answer. As soon as I said it I thought back to a story I heard of another daddy who was trying to comfort his little boy with the same speech. The little boy said, “I know God will protect me daddy but sometimes I need somebody with skin on.”
What a great reminder it was to me that, just like our kids need someone with skin on to comfort them when they are scared, so do our neighbors, co-workers, family, friends and, sometimes, even strangers. The “monsters” that scare them may be more sophisticated (economic, relational or emotional woes) but they are monsters nonetheless.
As the song goes “We are his hands. We are his feet.” As we allow the Holy Spirit to unleash the life of Christ through us we are reaching out to love, serve, comfort and protect those God brings across our paths. And, ultimately, we are there to reach them with the good news of the gospel of Jesus, rescue them from the coming judgment and usher them into the community of the kingdom of God.
I overhead Kailey this morning at the breakfast table explaining to Jeremy how scared she was last night. Jeremy gave her the speech, “You don’t have to be scared Kailey. Jesus was there with you.”
“So was daddy” she said as she looked at me and smiled, melting my heart.
Let us all be with those around us as we seek to save them from the monsters both real and imaginary through the power of Jesus. Let us be the presence of Jesus with skin on.
