He Will Meet Them in St. Louis!

About 16 years ago, a handsome young man who lived downstairs from me knocked on my door and introduced himself. He impressed me because he knew so much about the newspaper sports page where I worked as a copy editor. (He was also cute and kind of shy.) But the thing that really struck me was that he obviously read the paper differently than most people do: He remembered everything. He knew more about the people I worked with than I did -- and not just the columnists. He knew every reporter by name, what they covered and how well or poorly they did so.
He was so different from anyone that I had ever met, that I eventually married him.
What turned my head initially turned out to be even more true than I could have ever known. My husband knows and remembers everything about everything. (Except maybe algebra.) It is very reassuring thing to be married to the person who knows everything. And it is a very reassuring thing for children to have a father like him. Over the years, my trust in him has only grown.
I think of all of this because tomorrow my son and husband get on a plane for St. Louis to see the Cardinals in the World Series. My mother- and father-in-law have been sending copies of the Post-Dispatch sports page, which have been devoured by my grateful 14-year-old. Part of me can't see past the details like: "How will he be able to memorize the ten lines he is supposed to for his online Bible class before he leaves? " or the typical evangelical worries like: "Are we encouraging idolatry or hero worship?"
But the big picture remains vivid. My son is getting a taste of being a part of something bigger and outside of himself. He is getting a taste of forgetting himself as he cheers others on and marvels at their triumphs. And he is getting to share in the glory, because as a fan he is a partaker in their victories. All of that is such a reminder of our relationship to the Father.
So with a whole heart, I send them off. What is happening with my husband and son for the next four days is more important than any schooling we could give him. Standing next to his Dad, he will behold and cheer and get a little clearer picture of who he is: A Cardinal fan, yes, but a being created to worship with a whole heart the only One worth worshipping.
The Post-Dispatch sports page brought my husband and I together. The Lord is so gracious to use it to bond my son to his earthly father -- and to his Heavenly Father, as well.