I Wanna Hold Your Hand
photo credit: theartmad.com

When my brain starts down a trail, I never know where it will end up.  Sometimes that’s a good thing.  Sometimes, not so much.  Often, that mental journey contains some unexpected turns and forks in the road.

Kind of like this blog post.  My journey of imagination began after reading the closing verse of the book of Hosea, which I will share later.  I traveled from there to an old Southern Gospel Song that my friend Gerre Joiner sang a couple of weeks ago at the First Baptist Church in Decatur: I Can’t Even Walk Without You Holding My Hand.

From there, my mind continued on to a trip to the Grand Canyon in 2001 when I took my kids, then 13 and 10, on a two-day hike to the bottom and back.  I remembered how many people along the trail marveled at these two youngsters with their backpacks and ski pole walking sticks on this 20 mile round trip in one of the most amazing locales on God’s creation.

My kids were—still are, and always will be—amazing.  But they were able to make that trip with confidence because they knew Dad would get them there and back.  They knew I’d help them over the rough spots.  They knew I would carry the extra weight.  They knew I would give them my water if they ran out.  They knew they could hold my hand in any precarious spots. They knew that, if we stayed on the trail and kept going up, we would eventually get to the top.  And they knew that there was no way I would leave them alone.

After a little reminiscence about that great experience and reflecting on how much I loved for my kids to want to hold my hand, I thought about the song that inspired the title of today’s post.  I Want to Hold Your Hand was recorded by the Beatles in 1963. It was their second million selling record, their all-time #1, and was listed in 2013—yes, 50 years later—as the 44th biggest hit of “all-time” on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

When I think about the explicit lyrics of today, there is something refreshing about a sappy and carefree song where a boy says to a girl nothing more suggestive than, “I want to hold your hand.”

Now, let me travel full circle.  Hosea 13:9 says, “The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”  You and I are often guilty of complaining about how rough the path of life is.  We sometimes want to blame our circumstances for our failures.  Notice in the verse that the “ways” of the Lord are right.  Some walk and some stumble.  The difference is not the circumstances, but the travelers.

Could it be that the “righteous” can walk because we know Whose hand to hold and we know that our lives matter to Him?

About

Just an ordinary guy living an amazing life. Amazed by God and joining Him in His amazing activity in the world. Seeking the flourishing of fellow travelers. Author, Blogger, Speaker, Singer, CoachSultant, Husband, Dad, Grandpa.