Brandon @ www.bigb94.wordpress.com  (by the way, what’s bigb94 mean?), by his comment to Wednesday night’s post, stimulated some deeper thinking in me.

Let me put something in your mind based on that simple exchange.

Think big picnic!

Got that picture—hot dogs, hamburgers, deviled eggs, odd looking gelatinous material (which nobody claims but everyone suspects slightly off-kilter-but-let’s-humor-her Aunt Mildred brought)….

On Wednesday night, I said, “Hey, let’s get together,” and I brought the meat and buns. On Thursday morning, Brandon added some condiments.

I looked at those condiments and said, “That gives me an idea…”

You see how the picnic is growing. When people bring stuff to the table, we all get to pig out (which reminds me of the bad boy coming back to papa whom we’ll get to eventually—read “tomorrow”).

I want to clarify something about what this place isn’t.

Not daily devotional.

Nor thought for the day.

Nor sermon.

Nor lecture.

Nor monologue.

If it’s been any of those for you, I apologize. I’m new at this and do not claim an extraordinary amount of expertise in the area of blogging.

So what is this place then?

Using the picnic analogy, this is a park with no mosquitoes.

Let me repeat. No mosquitoes! None! As in, how many? Zero! (Unless you happen to be reading this while sitting in the middle of a swamp.)

It’s a place where I bring the first course. Sometimes it’s more appetizing than others, but I admit right off that I have a tendency to experiment in the kitchen (just ask my wife about a certain flaming marshmallow-chocolate pie—but we didn’t have to call the fire department).

The focus, of course, is our relationship with the ONE and journeying HOME.

Why?

Because I said so.

Oops, that sounds like a poor preacher or a stuffy professor.

And this isn’t a sanctuary or a lecture hall.

It’s a park with no mosquitoes.

Remember.

So why relationship, why the ONE, and why HOME?

I’ll give you two simple reasons.

1)      They captivate me and arouse curiosity. I don’t know enough and I want to explore thoughts about these subjects with a curious band of others.

2)      They are the most significant subjects I know. Look, I know iPad, Kindle, High-Def, 3-D, 4G, “Real Housewives…,” etc., etc., etc. capture our attention today. But a lot of today’s headliners and top Google searches are tomorrow as forgotten as my Intellivision stuffed on a corner shelf of the garage (which was completely forgotten until we cleaned out the garage Saturday).

3)      They speak of forever but impact today. Yeah, I can count and, sure, I could go back up and make a simple change but what’s the fun in that? Here’s the thing, I think our relationship with the ONE and our understanding of HOME influence how we think and act today. And that’s important to me.

Yes, I know I should have posted this ages ago. It provides a window into my soul (cue cliché violin music here) and a map to guide conversation around the picnic table.

So today I invite you to the picnic. By the way, pass those deviled eggs. Not for me, of course. My wife loves them.

Question: Does the picnic analogy work for you?