When Heaven Meets Earth Like a Sloppy Wet Kiss…

Dance4One Blogger, Dan Getz

Reporting from Shady Grove Church

There is a popular Christian song that has a phrase that says, in part, “…When Heaven Meets Earth like a Sloppy Wet Kiss…to express the passion that surpasses the human explanation or words of how much LOVE the Lord Jesus Christ has for the entire World…the Believers…and Unbelievers...His LOVE is the SAME for people on both sides of the “fence”.  In fact, the expression is so vivid that many who associate themselves with the Christian Faith have insisted on “editing” the words to say something less that what this expression is meant to convey.  But most people that have spent any amount of time with the person they truly love, KNOWS that a SLOPPY WET KISS is ALL about PASSION…Deep-Rooted LOVE that cannot possibly be expressed, of the special moment between Lovers, in any other way.

Over the last 3 ½ years or so, Jeremiah 29:11 (and the verses that contextually are before and after vs. 11) has become extremely valuable and meaningful to me.  This passage in the Christian Holy Book, called the Bible says this in The Message translation: “"Pray for Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you. ‘Yes. Believe it or not, this is the Message from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God: Don't let all those so-called preachers and know-it-alls who are all over the place there take you in with their lies. Don't pay any attention to the fantasies they keep coming up with to please you. They're a bunch of liars preaching lies--and claiming I sent them! I never sent them, believe me.’  GOD's Decree! This is GOD's Word on the subject: ‘As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of  you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.  When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.’ GOD's Decree. ‘I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you’--GOD's Decree—‘bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.’”

Another “bonus” to this passage, at least for me, is the significance of 11’s in the Hebrew language (the language the OLD TESTAMENT was originally written in).  Elevens signify, symbolize and mean “Beloved Son [or Daughter]”.  The 11 in Jeremiah 29:11 is easy to see and note.  However, do you realize that 2+9 equals 11 and TWO elevens would be a “DOUBLE PORTION of Beloved Son’s and Daughters"?

I will close with quoting John 3:16 (and I believe 17 and 18 too again from The Message Translation, this time from the New Testament which was originally written in the Greek language), the truth of which was conveyed by a 5 year old girl at a Shady Grove Church service a couple weeks ago…”This is how much God loved the world [emphasis added by Dance4One]: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one [emphasis added by Dance4One] need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone [emphasis added by Dance4One] can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world [emphasis added by Dance4One] how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world [emphasis added by Dance4One] right again. Anyone [emphasis added by Dance4One] who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone [emphasis added by Dance4One] who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”  Do you see, as the 5 year old girl reminded the people attending Shady Grove Church that particular Sunday morning, how much the God of the Universe loves the WORLD and that HIS LOVE has no boundaries and is not limited to only Christians, or a certain, often segregated group of “believers”?  It is the hope and desire of Dance4One that ALL the World KNOW this God…MY GOD…but regardless of the decision individuals have, are, or will make, Dance4ONE embraces ALL people…ALL faiths…ALL NATIONS...and those who have, are and will make choices that go against my [Dan Getz/Dance4One) personal beliefs…because I am a FOLLOWER of Jesus Christ and sometimes even distance myself by saying this, rather than identifying myself as a Christian….because if He LOVED the WORLD…so can WE.

More Information about Dance4One or Shady Grove Church (regular services are Wednesdays at 7 pm, Saturdays at 5 and Sundays at 10) can be found at www.Dance4One.com or www.ShadyGrove.org.