"I'll be right here"

When I was growing up, movies would stay in theaters longer, and the marketing for each new flick was ubiquitous. So, I heard all about E.T. before I had actually seen it. Pictured here is a little reward that my first-grade gym teacher gave me (probably for showing up?). "Did good" comes from the movie quote "Be good." I've kept this little slip of paper in a little scrapbook of sorts all these years.

Back then, E.T. was the holy grail of kid movies. My parents were broke when it was in theaters -- so I think this may have been the movie that I donated the $4 I had in my piggy bank so that my family and I could watch it in the dollar theater. (It was either E.T. or Annie. Those were the two big movies when I was in the first grade.) A few years later, my sister got a storybook version of E.T. on a 45 record. I ended up memorizing some of the movie's lines that way.

From what I understand, Steven Spielberg vowed that he would never put E.T. on VHS. Then I guess he changed his mind, because it ended up in video stores I think when I was in junior high (several years after it was in theaters). While my family and I watched the movie on video, we fell in love with the robust piano solo that plays while the end credits begin to roll.

In those days, entertainment wasn't always at your fingertips. You had to search for it, even if it meant begging your parents to drive you to record stores until you found what you wanted. Sometimes you were fortunate to find exactly what you were looking for. The rest of the time, all you were able to do was dream.

Nowadays, it's possible to find what you're looking for in a matter of seconds. This past Fourth of July, I spent the holiday watching E.T. on DVD (which I think I bought used on Amazon a few years ago). The end credits started to roll, and I admired that intoxicating piano melody. And it dawned on me that I might be able to download that song on iTunes. Sure enough, in a matter of seconds, I ended up doing so on my phone. Wow! The exact thing I desired was suddenly right at my fingertips.

E.T. is a very intriguing story. (And it's a guaranteed tear-jerker.) I saw an interview in which Steven Spielberg explained that the movie was basically his own childhood fantasy -- a lonely boy in a broken home making a friend. The boy, Elliott, discovers E.T., an alien who was accidentally left behind while a group of aliens was on a mission to earth. The two little guys become extremely close friends, but tragedy strikes when E.T. ends up getting captured by scientists. While E.T. is dying, Elliott reaches out to him and says, "I'll be right here." E.T. dies and comes back to life while his fellow aliens come back for him. Right before he flies back to his home planet, he points to Elliott and says, "I'll be right here." (See? Tear-jerker.)

Taken with a grain of salt, E.T.'s friendship with Elliott kind of reminds me of some things in my life.

Shortly after Macho died last year, my cat Choochie adopted my pillow as her new nighttime napping spot. Every night, as soon as I crawl into bed (sometimes before then), Choochie drops whatever she's doing, crawls onto my pillow, perches her hind feet on my bicep, and purrs. Sometimes she crawls out and continues her nighttime slumber elsewhere, and other times I fall asleep with her there close to me. Yes, I took a selfie with the lights on to document this phenomenon. It's interesting that she knew exactly where to go and what to do, even with the lights on. Because she knows where she belongs.

She belongs with me.

"You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance." (Psalm 32:7)

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.' " (John 14:23)

"Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.' " (Luke 18:15-17)

I got saved when I was 10 years old. I know that I got saved because I used to cheat on tests at school, but after I got saved, I remember that I stopped doing that.

But my surface-level relationship with God changed dramatically when I was 18 years old -- after I was baptized by the Holy Spirit. I think Pastor Jimmy Evans would say that it's because the Holy Spirit is a Connector; He connects us to Jesus and to God the Father.

Ever since I started living a life empowered by the Holy Spirit -- because I was suddenly able to hear God talking to me and directing me -- I've encountered all kinds of opposition. The worst, of course, came from my own family who tried to deprogram me as if I had joined a cult. And the hardest thing I've ever done was disown myself from my parents and walk away from my family -- probably to never see them again until we get to heaven. (I know I'll be there, but I'm not so sure about all of them.)

Who was with me through all of it? God. Whose relationship means more to me than anyone else's? God's. Who do I come to like a little child and pour my little heart out to because I know I'll be accepted, corrected, protected, and helped? God.

So, the last thing I want to do is destroy my relationship with God... or prevent anyone else from having that type of relationship with God.

I know I'm definitely not perfect, and I've definitely failed, just like everyone else has. But I know that I belong with Him. And I know that I can't survive without Him. Not anymore.

Whether I'm figuring out the mundane details of my life, or whether I'm looking for direction on how to live the rest of my life, or whether I'm walking away from people who are toxic to me, or whether I'm tackling a very challenging new task, or whether I'm learning how to use my gifts, or whether I'm struggling to learn how to do simple things like resting, or whether I'm dealing with an overtly demonic attack, or whether I'm wrestling with loneliness, or whether I'm being stabbed in the back by people who had been friendly to me, or whether I'm listening to antisocial Pharisees bark lies about my pastor through a bullhorn across the street from our church building, or whether I'm choosing to trust God while everything is falling apart around me, or whether I'm needing to live my life one day at a time...

I need to know what do to. I need to be reminded of the truth. I need to cling to the only One who has always been available to help me. I need to listen to the One who's always wanted me -- the One whose heart towards me has always been, "I'll be right here."

So, that's what I'm going to do.

God isn't like old technology. I don't have to beg other people to drive me around town until I find Him (IF I end up finding Him). I don't have to sit at home and only dream about the day that I will have access to Him. I already have access. He's right at my fingertips -- no, He's even closer than my fingertips. I can talk to Him whenever I want. He can talk to me whenever He wants. In a sense, I can crawl up to Him, perch on His bicep, and purr on His pillow, because I know where my place is.

I belong with Him.