We have grown in love and in community by using this format, which began when COVID broke out in March 2020. We are going on four years now with this! And not only have we grown in intimacy as a team, but I have learned so much from my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Recently, Pastor Theo Pare from Burkina Faso was leading our prayers and he thanked God for being "fearfully adorable." Now, a few months earlier, Pastor Rogers Fovo from Tanzania had described God as "adorable" during our adoration time. I remember smiling at that word, as my image of "adorable" is a baby...a stuffed animal...a little puppy. To describe God in this way, seemed funny to me. But then I remembered that we are giving adoration to God...so of course He must be adorable! And so I began to embrace that my definition for adorable had been narrowed by my culture, but it is much bigger and can be used for God!
And then I heard God described as "fearfully adorable." Sounds like an oxymoron to me. It does not sound like two words that belong together!
He is:
- a God who is a God of justice BUT also merciful.
- a God who never slumbers or sleeps.
- a God who knows us by name, pursues us, and desires for us to participate with Him in His work, DESPITE our daily failings.
- a God who oversees universes AND also atoms.
