A short personal reflection in which the speaker recounts chasing his nearly-two-year-old daughter, Carmela, as a concrete image of God’s desire to pursue people with love and care. The anecdote is used to make a spiritual point about the appropriateness and encouragement of being pursued by others and by God.
This last week, both of my kids were wanting me to play with them. And my daughter, who, like I said, she's almost two, Carmela, she's just. I mean, she's my kid, so I probably feel this way, but she's like the epitome of just cute. She. You know, big eyes. And she was looking at me the other day, and when she does it, she kind of like. She, like, sticks her butt out and she goes, papa, get me. And then she starts running, and her mullet is flopping in the back as she's running away. And, you know, we're. Or diapers, you know, flopping around. It's just. And then just watching it. How could I not. How could I not pursue my child? You know? I mean, how. I mean, she's even. She's literally explicitly asking me to chase her. How could I not pursue her? That's God's heart for us. And that did literally just happen this week. It's not just a sermon illustration, I promise. That's God's heart for us. And when I saw my daughter doing this, it was like, oh, man, this is so encouraging. Like, it's appropriate for me to say that to God. It's not just like, oh, it's good for it. No, it's appropriate for us to want to be pursued, not just in a sexual way, but for us to be pursued by the people that we are in group with.
