ABRAHAMBATES.COM: Like Fire and Cloud

Our house is often a place of chaos mixed with the community of a knit together family. As I write this every single member of our family has congregated to our tiny office space located in our tiny basement office: Nancy is on the iMac on her desk, I am on the MacBook on my desk, Abbey is on the floor doing an art project, Ethan under my desk playing a card game, and Sophia is pulling the books off my bookshelf, not to read but to terrorize (there goes a commentary, now Calvin's Institutes. Oh, well.). There's about 60 square feet of space. It's home. It's tight. It's good.

Recently on a Saturday morning our family woke up early. It was my birthday. Instead of heading out to do something as a family we began simultaneously, and without coercion, cleaning the basement. We all worked together. No one said, "Hey, let's clean the basement together!" Someone just started (I think Nancy?) and everyone else naturally followed suit. Abbey and Ethan worked on the legos and art project area. Sophia put away her kids toys and books. Nancy and I focused our attention on our 60 square feet of office space. At the end of the morning we had a fully cleaned basement, and everyone was fulfilled with quality "family-time".

When Nancy brings home groceries, we can't keep Sophia away from helping to put them away. She has to help, everyone has to help. Abigail gets in there too. Occasionally there is an accident. Like this week we broke open a bag of spaghetti at both ends (which is weird), but it comes with having such a vibrant household, too many hands helping. Nancy put the broken bag in a zip lop, which was too full to close and stuffed in the top shelf of our pantry.

In a house like this it's normal to have a few rats, right? I was making breakfast this morning and I thought I heard one. I tried to put it out of my mind, but it sounded like it was eating something plastic, like crackling or tapping. I looked over under the pantry where our trash can is located and I saw a plastic container of unfinished strawberry ends. I imagined I heard the animal breaking into the container, but as I looked (again and again) there was nothing.

At breakfast we talked about the people of Israel who follow God out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Exodus tells us that the God of the universe shows up as a flame of fire and cloud of smoke to lead, guide, and protect his people as he walks with them "along the way" all throughout the wilderness.

This phrase "along the way" has really stuck with me lately. I think this is because I am such a project person, I like to get tasks done, I look forward to new projects, getting to the next destination: school drop offs, work appointment, another book to read, articles to write. Conversely I have a hard time being present in the moment.

I heard the rat again! The same noise came from the end of the kitchen. Nancy looked at me across the table, her eyes widened. I tell her I thought I heard a rat earlier. "EXCUSE ME!" she said, "WHERE?" At the end, by the trash can, near the strawberries. Our entire family craned our necks to see if this is in fact true. We saw nothing.

The thing about God and his people is that seeking the next stage of what's coming next should be natural. It's God. He knows it's going to work out. He's the innovator behind the plan. He came up with the great escape from Egypt. He's holding each stage of their escape in his "strong hand". So why is he concerned with their leadership and safety in the moment? Love and communion. These are his people and He would not miss their lives for a moment.

I am not always this way. Even when we read books as a family I am thinking of my iCalendar, planning a jog around the neighborhood, outlining a sermon. Maybe you are this way too? Maybe your married to a person like this? Maybe you grew up in a family like this? The point is that our families should mirror the image of God and his people, because Paul tells us that we are the 'little family', the household that looks like God's big family, a reflection of the Trinity.

As I tell this to my kids the same rat noise exploded from the end of the kitchen! This time it did not stop. It sounded as if the rat was tearing apart something in the pantry, large shooting sounds. Sophia screamed. Abigail stood up on top of her chair. Nancy lifted her legs and yelled, "Get it!" I jump up and run to the kitchen as Ethan said: "It's pasta! Dad it's the pasta!" I got to the back of the kitchen just in time to see an entire bag of pasta spill out of the cupboard. The broken bag of pasta had tipped over inside the pantry and was pouring out. As each kernel of a hard pasta droped down the inside of the cupboard it hit the bottom shelf with a sharp drum-like crunching sound. There was no rat, only a great big mess.

It's incredible to me that God would concern himself with his people's everyday lives.

My family knows what to do in situations like this, with a mess like this. Instantly, everyone was up from the table, including Sophia from her highchair. We were all picking up pasta pieces at the end of our kitchen. Ethan grabbed the long pieces. Sophia handed me smaller pieces and said 'ewes' (her word for for gross: a cross between gross and eew!). Abigail swept up with a small broom and dust pan. Nancy held the trash bag and gathered the pieces.

There was a time in my life I would have been annoyed at an incident like this: "Whose fault was the pasta mistake?" "How to we not do that again?" "Let's not waste money irresponsibly."

Right now all I can do is praise God for giving us a better model, calling us to be present in the moment of everyday life, like fire and cloud.

AB.

*written by Abraham Bates - photos by Nancy Bates Photography - Copyright AbrahamBates.com