Dec 14 - Heard in the Backseat

Heard in the Backseat

Thursday, December 14, 2023

By: Diana Groe

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

John 1:1-5

Every year for Christmas, my parents would bundle us up in the car and off we'd go to Grandma's house, about 100 miles away. (It seemed like such a long way then!) When I was about 6 or so, on one of these yearly treks, I was holding court in the backseat with my sister Cindy as my primary audience. My teacher had been regaling my class with the scientific explanation of how the planets in our solar system had come into being. It involved swirling gasses and chunks of rock banging together with solar flares whizzing by, all of which had somehow come from nothing, and finally became the set of (then) 9 planets orbiting our sun. I was always keen to learn new things and, I must confess, loved to show off my new knowledge to my captive younger sibling. 

However, my mini-symposium was interrupted when Dad said, "No, Diana. That's wrong. 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.'" 

My father went on to tell us about our infinitely creative God who made all that is, was or ever will be by simply commanding it to be so. By His Word. But when it came to making people, He took extra care. The Creator God shaped the first human from the dust of the ground (though just the other day, Dad said he suspected it might have been good, rich Iowa topsoil!) and then God breathed His very own breath into Adam's lungs. The God my dad believed in was both immensely powerful and incredibly tender.

I remember feeling an intense sense of awe and wonder as I sat in that backseat listening to my father tell me about his God. The foundation for my faith was being laid in my childish heart on that road trip. No matter how much my science teachers tried to convince me that I was a product of time and slime, I couldn't buy into it after that. 

My father had told me different. That was good enough. (And I have to admit to a bit of glee now as astrophysicists scramble to rethink their cosmological theories since the data collected from the Hubble and Webb telescopes have confounded so many of their imaginings!)

Scripture doesn't need to be re-imagined. 

I've always loved the grandeur and poetry of the beginning of John's gospel. He echoes Genesis with his "In the beginning..." opening and then goes on to explain creation further as the work of none other than the Word, the God/Man Jesus Christ.  And then later in this first chapter, John shares the greatest mystery of all--that the Word became flesh and came to live with us. Jesus left eternity and was born as one of us, bearing even in His infant form, all the authority and supremacy of the eternal God.

And unfathomable love, because He brought life for us with Him, and light to erase our darkness. Jesus' coming tells us we don't need to be afraid, no matter what, because He is with us. He will see us safely into His arms.

This year, two days before Thanksgiving, my dad took a fall and hit his head on Mom's piano's leg. (For those of you who enjoy Mom's preludes, you'll be pleased to know the piano was not harmed.) But Dad's head injury called for a trip to the ER. We were all stunned when the CT-scan revealed a tennis ball sized tumor in the frontal part of Dad's brain. When the doctor left the room, my dad was the first to break the silence.

"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away," he said softly. "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Clearly, my father still has things to teach me.  

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On Christmas Day, my parents will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary! When you see them at church, please congratulate them as we celebrate their amazing 70 years of love!