Child of Wonder.

We went to a movie the other night. A real movie, meaning it did not involve singing vegetables. The movie did most things that we want movies to do, meaning it made us think a little, laugh a little, and part with $8 per head.

I didn't have huge expectations for the movie - August Rush...reviews were generally not good, complaining that it was unrealistic. That's ok. It was about a little boy who runs away from an orphanage to New York City where he instantly becomes a guitar virtuoso, wins a scholarship, and quickly ends up on stage in Central Park conducting a massive orchestra and reunited with his parents, who are reunited with one another at the exact same time. I'm not sure what part of that the critics expected to be portrayed realistically.

What the movie did do well though was make me think about Zion. Long term blog readers and youtube lurkers know Zion to be quite the musician. He lives and breathes for the guitar and drums. Recently, he's started singing as well (see clip in right sidebar). While I don't know everything God has for this little guy, it's obvious that he feels music at a level that most of us don't. It's not an alternate reality for him. It is reality and everything other than music is pretty much a bothersome exercise...except for swords, which he likes nearly as much as his guitar, I believe because he accurately sees them as slightly lesser forms of weaponry.

This morning in the prayer room, I found myself reading the early chapters of Samuel's life and seeing Zi's face. I weighed Hannah's sacrifice...her yearly trek to the temple with a little hand made robe for the boy that she knew was not fully her own, blinking away tears as she left him there yet again. I thought of the weight of Samuel growing up in the presence of God, remaining pure before the Lord even as Eli's sons, the priests in the the temple, lived in open sin. I read of Samuel hearing The Voice and marveled at the fact that, even without understanding it at first, he showed his character by reporting for duty before Eli.

Some times, it's not hard to imagine that we're raising a Samuel. A set apart one. A wide eyed boy in a fallen world. A child of wonder...a supernatural musician to minister before the Lord like Samuel did as a small boy.

I'm praying for the strength to live the prayer of Hannah...that no matter the cost, I'll say "Therefore I also have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the LORD.”

There is no greater honor.