Have you ever known you know someone, but you didn’t know them all at the same time?

I’m sure this happens to every one of us and it happened to me the other day. 

I greeted someone in our church and, as I shook his hand, I knew that we had some kind of connection. There was something familiar about him but I didn’t know what. 

There was one time I was in a mall and spied a person from my church. I went up to him and said “hi”. And though he said “hi” back to me, I could tell he didn’t know who I was. 

This man had been in our church for years!  

Later I found out that he didn’t recognize me because he had only ever seen me at church and in a suit. The context was all wrong for him and, though he knew me, it just didn’t compute with him at the time. 

Well, it was a similar kind of setting for me the other day. I could tell by looking at this man’s eyes that this was not the first time we had met. He recognized me, but right then and there I just had no idea who he was.

What made it worse was that there was no time at that particular moment to try to explore our previous relationship. I just had to go back to my seat to wonder and ponder who this man might be. 

Nothing came to me. 

Then I got up to preach and, every time I looked his way, there was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t figure it out. 

My brain was working like one of those TV crime show identification computers. You know the scene: they get a picture of a suspect, pinpoint some markers on his or her face and then run it through their database. All the faces flash repeatedly on the screen until they get a hit and they identify the criminal. 

That’s what was happening to me on the platform, only there was no hit. The computer wasn’t turning up any useful information on this guy. 

My only hope was to do investigative work the old fashioned way. 

After the service I saw him standing in the foyer with his son. I went to shake his hand again. This time I could tell he knew that I didn’t know who he was, so he mercifully told me his name. 

And then the computer in my brain got a hit and all his information came rushing into my memory banks. 

… I really need to get my old computer checked out; it should work a little better than that. 

What made it more embarrassing to me was that ours was not a quick meeting or greeting that we had had once upon a time – I’ve had this man speak in our church on two occasions! 

But once the connection was made, it was amazing how familiar he seemed and how our conversation flowed because we knew each other. 

Here’s the thing: In a world of 7.5 billion people, you might expect that you are not much more than a number to God, that God really doesn’t know you that well. In reality, God knows everything about you. And you can be sure that He will never have a time when He knows He knows you but doesn’t know you at the same time. God knows you right down to the hairs on your head; He knows you intimately. Make sure you know Him in the same way. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What can you do to become more familiar with God? Leave your comments and questions below.