Abba, Father

"access... to the Father"

Ephesians 2:18

What do you know of John F Kennedy Jr?  Nearly everyone in the Kennedy family is famous for being a member of the Kennedy family, but JFK Jr is more famous than most.  Son of President John Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.  Nephew of Robert F Kennedy, grandson of Joseph P Kennedy, he could have been famous simply for his relatives.

But as he grew, he stayed in the public eye.  He went to law school, and was ridiculed for having to take the bar exam three times on his way to becoming a lawyer.  He started a political magazine, got married, and died in a small plane crash at the young age of 38.  He was in the public eye his whole life, and certainly one of the most photographed men in America, due to his good looks (1988's Sexiest Man Alive according to People Magazine) and America's fascination with the Kennedy family.

But with all that, if you look for him on the internet, you won't just find pictures of the man he became; you'll also find pictures of the boy he was.  Despite all he accomplished as a man, the pictures of him with his father are some of the most enduring of the 20th century. 

photo credit: Stanley Tretick, Look Magazine

I happened to see this picture the other day, and all of a sudden I thought of the phrase "access to the Father".  Who, but his son, would be allowed to crawl under the President's desk?  There's a wonderful intimacy there.  I've heard that phrase many times, but I was so tickled to have that image in my mind as I thought about our access to the Father. 

We ~ you and I ~ are His beloved.  And as it says in Ephesians 2, we have access to Him through His Spirit.  Ephesians 3 says we have "boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him".  Access with confidence!  Do you have that confidence?   I hope so.  If you have the faith, you should have confidence, because it says right here the faith is enough. 

photo credit:  Cecil Stoughton, White House photographer

Put yourself in that picture, walking and talking with the Father, whose attention is devoted to you.  That's the kind of relationship He wants with you.

It's a beautiful thing. 

~ "that you may be able to comprehend...

the width and length and depth and height-

to know the love of Christ

    which passes knowledge" ~

Ephesians 3:18-19