Jesus and Solitaire - "Tell My Kids Im Tired of Doing Things Alone"

The following blog is from Pastor Joe Brock, a close friend, and upcoming blogger to the CWG website. Enjoy!

I was a youth pastor in the early 90’s. In 1995 I graduated college and moved into a full-time associate pastor position. My family was involved in a church plant and in time, I became my father’s associate pastor. Who says God does not have a sense of humor? So for the next few years I served the church in a number of capacities, all the while growing and experiencing the things of the Spirit. As time when on, my wife and I realized that the path we were on was parting from the direction of the church. So in an honoring parting of ways, we left the church and the denomination, determined to continue to follow the Lord.

I have always loved books. Reading the thoughts and encounters of others has helped me see the world and the Lord through a much wider lens. It seemed inevitable that I ended up working for a Christian bookstore. What I thought was going to be a year or so ended up being a 7 year stint. I went from being an assistant store manager to receiving my own store where I spent close to 4 years serving the people of Northern Indiana.

The first bookstore I worked at was a college bookstore. Being adjacent to the actual college I graduated from allowed the store the opportunity to work with the college and cover all their textbook sales. The precious lady that handled this aspect of the business for us retired. The big boss told me he wanted me to assume this responsibility. So for the next few months I worked with the college professors getting ready for the next semester’s classes and the materials they needed. This meant a LOT of data entry for me. My job was to sit in the back of the store away from the sales floor and enter into a computer all the information needed for our future college textbook sale. It was while I was doing this data entry one day that Jesus shook my world up and changed me forever.

God gave us one Book to show us how the life called Christian is supposed to look. I question where some of the methodology we see in churches comes from. There was Modern but that gave way to Post-Modern.  Now we have the Millennials. I’m not quite sure what’s coming next. What I do know is that the same Bible each generation has centers on one thing – the manifestation of God’s Kingdom on earth. I am all for social media, technical breakthroughs, and new ways to share the Gospel. These can and should change, but what we’ve lost is the simplicity of the Gospel to be itself. The Gospel message is the power of God unto salvation so if we simply proclaim it and let it be itself, this message will lead to the sick being healed, demons manifesting and coming out, and God’s voice breaking into and penetrating our world. What we coin as supernatural is the natural way God lives. A Spirit-filled believer needs only to BE for the things of the Kingdom to come. And this is precisely what happened to me.

One afternoon as I was sitting in the back of the bookstore doing my data entry, God did something that I did not expect that changed my life – for the better – to this very day. As I was sitting and typing, wearing a cowboy hat I found (I am not sure why I had this on), to my upper right I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. The ceiling in the room was very tall so the movement I saw was elevated up toward the ceiling. I turned to look up at the movement and what I saw up in front of me was what has been termed an open vision (See Acts 10:9-17). Please know that this completely caught me off guard.

“Tell My kids I’m tired of doing things alone.” 

There, sort of hovering upward and in front of me, was Jesus sitting at a table facing me with a deck of cards in His hands. I knew this was real because my mind was focused on my task and this happened so immediately, my mind didn’t have time to engage – it was just there.  I could only see Jesus from the waist up because the table covered His lower extremities. As He sat there, I saw Him flipping the cards over, looking across the table at the cards that had already been laid down. He wasn’t looking at me or at that moment even acknowledging me. His focus was on the cards.

Then all at once, His focus came up off the table and looked me straight in my eyes. He was no longer flipping cards; He was staring directly at me. There was a pause and then He spoke directly to me. What He said rattled me so deeply it changed my entire life in an absolute instant. While staring at me He said directly. “Tell My kids I’m tired of doing things alone,” there was a pause and from this, He went back to flipping the cards. It was at this moment I realized He had been playing solitaire. Remember, solitaire by definition is a game you play alone.

It stunned me, and it broke my heart. My King, my Lord - Who parted ways with His Son to bring me back home - was lonely. My God was lonely. How could this be? He was God. How could God be lonely? It was from this I began to see my Lord in an entirely different manner. God was lonely because His kids didn’t understand just how much He longed to be with them.

This was unacceptable; absolutely unacceptable. Over the next few years I had a number of additional encounters like this where God shared with Me His often loneliness from His kids thinking He wants to be served more than enjoyed. This is NOT God’s primary wish. His primary wish is we realize that in everything we do, He wants to be involved. From cutting the grass to going to work, to our moments of brokenness and despair – our Father simply always wants to be with us. It is now an imbedded part of my life to share with people how much the Father loves and longs for them and to help teach them to hear the intimate and exclusive words the Father has just for them.

As you read this, if you truly long to make God happy, spend more time with Him. You are His central desire – yes, you! He controls the universe by His words so He is not overworked or exhausted. He enjoys you; He loves you, and was willing to part ways with the perfection of heaven to enter our sin-sickened world to bring you home. If this is what He was willing to do, stop thinking He’s angry with you – it does not line up with His heart or His Book.

So as I close, I say to you - stop letting Jesus play solitaire. He does not like being alone. He doesn’t need our companionship, but He sure does want and enjoy it. He wants you. Don’t stop until you can easily sing and fully believe that…

He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves me, oh,
Oh, how He loves me,
How He loves me oh