When I was in kindergarten, I had a friend named Jeremy. It seems like every day would find us playing together at recess. We had those little bouncy horses – they 
were mounted onto a giant spring – and we would stay on those things for pretty much the whole time. That is the only memory I have of him...I don't think we were even in the same class. After kindergarten, I don't remember ever seeing Jeremy again until the latter days of high school. I went to church with a friend, and, lo and behold, there was Jeremy! I think I figured out that he was kin to a lot of people in that church, just like I was. It was the weirdest thing, though. At the risk of looking stupid, I asked him if he remembered me, and it seems like he said yes. That's been eons ago, and I haven't seen him since, but I do think about him sometimes.
Sadly enough, this is sometimes the story of our Christian life. When we first meet Jesus, we start spending a lot of time with Him and become close friends. We see Him almost every day, and He becomes a constant presence in our lives. But, as we grow older, we don't have as much time on the playground as we did as baby Christians, so much of our focus is on the 'work' of life. Unfortunately, we've been so accustomed to seeing Jesus on the bouncy horse that we forget He can go anywhere we go! Instead of taking Him to school and work and every other place, we leave Him sitting on that horse. The funny thing is, we have more of a *need* for Him in places other than the playground!
At certain points, He crosses our mind and we wonder what He's up to. We never went back to recess, and we never asked Him to move through the rest of life with us. So, we take a trip back to that play area and find him sitting on the same horse, just waiting to see if we'll come back to Him. After a little catching up, we look at our watch and realize we've run out of time for visiting – there's too much work to be done! So, we bid our adieus and leave, leaving Jesus on the playground.
Can you imagine if the roles were reversed? What if Jesus were the one to walk off the playground and leave us sitting on the horse, waiting for Him to come back? I can't even comprehend that! Once we become friends during “play” time, Jesus wants us to grab His hand and drag Him with us everywhere we go! Not only do we need Him with us to help us live our lives, others need to see that we are inseparable! The best way to let others know how good a friend someone is is for them to know that “where he/she is, Jesus is there, too”.
So, if you have quarantined Jesus to the illustrative playground, make a trip there pretty soon to see Him...but don't leave Him there! He's there to be our friend, but He's also there to be our teacher, counselor, protector, and everything else that life requires.
were mounted onto a giant spring – and we would stay on those things for pretty much the whole time. That is the only memory I have of him...I don't think we were even in the same class. After kindergarten, I don't remember ever seeing Jeremy again until the latter days of high school. I went to church with a friend, and, lo and behold, there was Jeremy! I think I figured out that he was kin to a lot of people in that church, just like I was. It was the weirdest thing, though. At the risk of looking stupid, I asked him if he remembered me, and it seems like he said yes. That's been eons ago, and I haven't seen him since, but I do think about him sometimes. Sadly enough, this is sometimes the story of our Christian life. When we first meet Jesus, we start spending a lot of time with Him and become close friends. We see Him almost every day, and He becomes a constant presence in our lives. But, as we grow older, we don't have as much time on the playground as we did as baby Christians, so much of our focus is on the 'work' of life. Unfortunately, we've been so accustomed to seeing Jesus on the bouncy horse that we forget He can go anywhere we go! Instead of taking Him to school and work and every other place, we leave Him sitting on that horse. The funny thing is, we have more of a *need* for Him in places other than the playground!
At certain points, He crosses our mind and we wonder what He's up to. We never went back to recess, and we never asked Him to move through the rest of life with us. So, we take a trip back to that play area and find him sitting on the same horse, just waiting to see if we'll come back to Him. After a little catching up, we look at our watch and realize we've run out of time for visiting – there's too much work to be done! So, we bid our adieus and leave, leaving Jesus on the playground.
Can you imagine if the roles were reversed? What if Jesus were the one to walk off the playground and leave us sitting on the horse, waiting for Him to come back? I can't even comprehend that! Once we become friends during “play” time, Jesus wants us to grab His hand and drag Him with us everywhere we go! Not only do we need Him with us to help us live our lives, others need to see that we are inseparable! The best way to let others know how good a friend someone is is for them to know that “where he/she is, Jesus is there, too”.
So, if you have quarantined Jesus to the illustrative playground, make a trip there pretty soon to see Him...but don't leave Him there! He's there to be our friend, but He's also there to be our teacher, counselor, protector, and everything else that life requires.