Hanging Out
by Daniel Floren
Dad took me to Chicago for Spring Break. It was an incredible trip full of hilarious improv, great food, and cool culture spots.
One day, I really wanted to go to a particular pizza place and check it out. I took it upon myself to figure out all of the transportation details, feeling quite accomplished as the ’son’ directing/leading ‘dad’. We got to the address, and saw nothing but high rise buildings. It was the Corporate Headquarters for this pizza spot – no where close to the actual restaurant. I was soooo mad. I spent the next hour trying to walk off my frustration. “I totally screwed it up,” I thought to myself.
The next day, after the Shed Aquarium, we had about a 4-5 hour gap with nothing to do. I turned to Dad as we looked out at Lake Michigan, and I asked him with some urgency, “Dad, what do you want to do? I don’t know what comes next, I’m out of plans, I didn’t plan well enough. I’m sorry, but we have some free time. How can we redeem it to make the trip worth the money? What do you want to do?” He looked at me and just kind of half-smiled in amazement, shaking his head. He took a second. “Daniel. This. This is all I want. Just spending time with you.”
In that moment, a number of curious things clicked into place. I looked at Dad’s shirt. It was the TKA Elementary School shirt from when he was my soccer coach. Yesterday he wore my high school football shirt, and the day before that a TCU polo. The point was always to spend time with his son. All of the gifts and adventures of Chicago were just a nice backdrop for hang-out time.
I have always come to God asking, “What do you want to do?” With my life, my marriage, my job, my friends, my day, the groceries, this very second…
Strangely enough, I think the answer has always been, “We’re doing it!” Christ wants to hang out and commune with me and love me! By the very nature of turning to God and asking, “What do you want to do?” we’re there! We are now talking and hanging out! Before I take another step toward anything, I’ve got to first realize that that is the most beautiful thing. We’re just there already. His Grace met us there and his love keeps us there. All of our purposes and plans must be in context of just hanging out with the Lord. Then, without any pressure, we can go grab pizza.
Beautiful and right on!
Thanks, Minnemie!
I just found this post, since my computer was down for some time. Daniel, your description and takeaway spoke directly to me. I have been troubled by stories of “prayer warriors” with calluses on their knees; and comments by people telling how they ALWAYS set aside such-and-such a time for prayer. For me, sure, there are certain occasions when I stop what I’m doing and focus on praying. That happens when I come upon an auto accident. Or when I hear an ambulance or helicopter heading for Sacred Heart Hospital. I’ve been feeling guilty because I always end up getting hopelessly behind in whatever daily devotional book I try. But I talk to the Lord often during the day. Mostly about little things that come up. Today, I was enjoying a CD of classical music as I did some kitchen tasks, and I believe He agreed with me when I decided that CD is a keeper, but a collection of hymn arrangements I don’t care for can be given away. Yes, I was loading my dishwasher – but we were hanging out!
What a great reminder! Kind of like Brother Lawrence!