Fully Known

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Last week we celebrated my oldest son’s birthday. Elaine has a real gift for birthday parties, so even in the midst of quarantine she rigged up a pretty awesome set up. Kyan also enjoyed lollipops, chewing gum, caffeinated soda and not one but two movies that had us awake well past midnight. (Though I’m not sure if it was the movies or the soda that got us there). There’s something about birthdays that makes us feel special. Well today is my birthday, and as I woke up I felt like God put Jeremiah 1:5 on my heart. I remember on a Zoom call once Francis Chan told us about how he went into the woods with nothing but his bible to encounter God, and this verse just jumped off the page. The revelation of how deeply God cared for him, how intimately God knew every hair on his head, triggered a call into ministry that led to many best-selling books and some of the most challenging thinking about the state of the church today. I do get to feel special today. But if I’m aligned with God’s heart I should feel extra-special every day, because my sense of special-ness comes not from the fact that I was born on this day 43 years ago. It comes from the fact that even before I was born, even before I was conceived in my mother’s womb, I was fully known and fully loved. Lord, thank you for life. Thank you for loved ones. Thank you for knowing me. In your son’s name, Amen.