This Lent season we are focusing on embracing God's love for us and seeing how we are embraced.

As parents, we often don't receive the reciprocal love or care that we shower on our children. It's just not the role that kids play - they sponge up the love we give and that's how they grow into healthy, adjusted people (eventually). We have to get our love from Someone else. We need that supernatural love embrace to keep going.

When I was a teen, there was a popular Christian music song called "When God Ran". It's truly in the 80s contemporary Christian genre - so the music might not thrill you - but the lyrics always touched my heart. When God ran. When the Father saw the son way off in the distance, He didn't wait for the son to approach. He didn't even walk down the driveway to meet him at the mailbox. He ran. He embraced the son and showered him with love and acceptance, forgiveness and hope.

This Sunday, we'll be talking about the Prodigal Son story and I hope you'll see it as an encouragement to you when the parenting gets hard, when the pre-teens want their way, when the little ones just need you so much that you are drained, when you just aren't sure you have any more to give. God runs to us in all our circumstances, faith or doubt, in all we do or not do - and embraces us with the biggest hug and kiss.

Have you been hugged by our God today?

Luke 15:20 (New Living Translation)
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.