A Line In The Sand

John 14:7 -- "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."

At a red light. That's when this verse popped into my head. With the sun blazing in through the windshield, the music on the radio interrupted by static and Steven's foot baring down on the break pedal - again - I lean over in an attempt to stave off the motion sickness crawling up the back of my throat and tuck my head between my knees. 

And THAT'S when Steven and Brian simultaneously - spontaneously quote a line from Chicken Run. As if they'd been planning on this exact moment and counted out the seconds so they could speak it in perfect unison - they both step into their inner Cockney and say ....

"In the quite likely event of an emergency, put your head between your knees -- and kiss your bum good-bye" 

The car erupts in laughter. Motion sickness all but forgotten.

I often find myself thinking that these two were split at birth. Though B inherited Steven's Dad's middle name - it was a name given to him by Steven on the day of B's legal adoption. The long-awaited day that these two men made legally binding the Father/Son relationship that they'd forged from the time Steven gave Brian two Hot-Wheels on his third birthday. But DNA is about the ONLY thing that these two don't have in common. Though Brian was born to me in another marriage [long story] you would never know it if you observed our family of four for any amount of time. Steven calls B his oldest son - and Brian has said repeatedly that Steven IS Dad - there is, nor has there been - any other. 

Steven and Brian [and Tyler, too for that matter] speak a unique language that - if I didn't know otherwise - they can speak telepathically.  Proof of this is in the moments when they burst into simultaneous song, movie lines, or identical sarcastic remarks. If you want Steven's take on a new film, ask Brian what he thought about the picture and you pretty much have Steven's take on it, as well. It is a marvel to me - and, it made me think of John 14:7.

Philip is in a deep conversation with Jesus and asks our Lord to:  just show us the Father, that will be good enough for us. Jesus very gently and very lovingly says, basically - um, what do you think I've been doing the entire time we've been together?

During the physical time Jesus spent walking the earth as a human - I don't think He ever put it more clearly than He did in verse 7.  ...From now on, you HAVE seen our Father, and you know Him. 

Jesus draws a line in the sand. This is it. THIS is the moment. Know Me - and you know Father. 

When Steven signed his name at the bottom of the page, stood in front of the judge at the county courthouse and claimed Brian, gave to Brian the Dalton family birthright in spirit and in name - he was drawing a line in the sand. A line that said ... THIS is the moment. You are now legally what you have been all along - my son.

Jesus did the same thing for us. When those big red drops of his precious blood hit the sand below the cross, He drew the line. THE line. All we have to do is cross it.  If we know Him, we know our Father. In fact, the ONLY way for us to know our Father is for us to know THE Son.