Glad to See Me, Lord?

Sunday began for me at 6 a.m. There were green beans,dessert and ribs to be put in the oven. The house was FULL of company. All 5 bedrooms were full and the living room was sporting an air mattress with Benjamin and Meredith Carter sound asleep. As soon as those things were accomplished I rushed upstairs to get ready. I reminded Paul that the Carter's needed to use our bathroom to get ready so we would need to hurry. And hurry we did. At 8:25 we ran out the door and headed to church to arrive for praise team practice. Twenty minutes later we went to Sunday School where Paul is the teacher. The lesson was on "INTEGRITY". Interesting lesson. I even added my "two cents worth".(that's about all it's worth) At 10:25 I left Sunday School early to run to the bathroom, save my seat and meet in the music room with the band and praise team for (of all things) prayer. Prayer that would ask the Lord to bless our efforts, lead us into worship and gude Micah as he preached.
As the service began I proceeded to check out the congregation. You know, taking attendance, wondering where was this person and that person, maybe I should call and check on them later and on and on and on. It wasn't really until the 3rd song that it dawned on me...Lord, you comin' today? I haven't invited you, haven't consulted you and certainly haven't considered asking you to join us...me...as I am supposed to be at YOUR feet. I have taken precious time to entertain my guests, cook for my guests, love on my guests but absolutely NOTHING to welcome the SPECIAL guest into worship this morning. Sure, everyone would appreciate all my hard effort for lunch but would WHAT I was bringing to the foot of the cross be worthy of the recipient it was inteneded for? I think not. He had been put on the back burner. Much like good old Martha. Well intentioned, yet a very lame offering. So as we sang the song "Thank You For The Cross", I became keenly aware of just THAT. The cross. What if God had been in the hurry I was in on the morning of the crucifixtion...what if He'd had better things to do...what if He'd prioritized me the way I had Him? There would be a much different ending to this story.
I love how God often chooses to come to you. In a loving,merciful and caring way.  "Kerry, what are you doing? I've been waiting all morning to get your attention.You've been so busy you've had no time to prepare for ME." He was right. My definition of "getting ready for church" was really out of whack. I wasn't ready for Him in any way, shape or form. Are you like me? I hope not. He deserves so much more. MY Lord WANTS to spend time with me. He WANTS me to sit at His feet and worship Him. Wow...the funny thing is that there is absolutely NOTHING I have done to deserve that kind of love. NOTHING. And yet, He waits patiently every Sunday and throughout the week for me to meet Him. Kind of a sobering thought...the Creator of ALL the Universe wants to spend time with ME.It's really up to me here.Is this really that hard of a decision? I think that from here on out....I will try to prepare better to meet Him on His terms. So I guess the question remains...ARE you glad to see me, Lord?  And that"s what I've learned along the way....