Ever Just the Same...Ever a Surprise!

"Ever just the same!

Ever a surprise!

Ever as before!

Ever just as sure as the sun will rise!

Tale as old as Time.....

Tune as old as song....

Bittersweet and strange!

Finding you can change!

Learning you were wrong!

It's just an old love song, from Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  Why are love songs so popular?  I don't think they would be popular in a world where people actually experienced love constantly and completely.  Generally, I think people enjoy love songs because that is what they long for, rather than because that is what they experience.

As I fell in love with this song, I began to realize that there is only one relationship that meets the expectations of these lyrics: our relationship with God. 

Ever just the same!
Did you see notice that the sun rose again this morning?

Ever a surprise!  
Did you really look at the sunrise? I promise you the morning sun I saw on the St. Joseph's River has never been before, and never will be again!

Ever as before! Ever just as sure as the sun will rise!
In this wildly unstable world of economies and insurance and disappearing jets, we crave something...Someone....who will not change!

Tale as old as time...Tune as old as song!
He is not just as old as but older than both time and song!

Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong! 
And as we reach out and just touch the hem of his garment....just take one step toward him and toward a relationship with him...we find we can change....we learn we were wrong...we learn it was Satan that told us we were hopeless, and God--who is ever just the same--who tells us we can change.

To have a relationship with Someone who is always the same, yet always a surprise! Always consistent and stable, but always interesting and creative!

As we walk with him...we become like him!
More and more our lives become orderly and consistent (ever just the same!).
We become more interesting (ever a surprise!).
We laugh more, we love more!  We inspire the people around us (finding we can change!)...to learn
that when Satan told them that they could never change, He was wrong (learning we were wrong!).

All because we know the one who is....ever just the same....ever a surprise!

The human race has such a gift for doing things backwards. We think, Oh, our relationship with God should be like a good marriage, rather than thinking, Wouldn't it be awesome to have a human relationship that is similar to the relationship I have with God!

Is there any reason why this should not be possible?  Is there any rule that says that our relationship with God can't be the most motivating force in our lives, stronger than any other affection, interest, or love? Who made the rule that faith in a Person you cannot see is not enough to sustain us?

Just because it is the exception to the rule does not mean it is impossible... Just because people live for things and relationships that are less than God does not mean that it is out of the questions for God to be the most exciting reality in your life.  This kind of living is not well represented in our world today.

But I refuse to believe it is impossible.