I must’ve watched them for at least half an hour.

In the midst of the “Great Texas Snow Event of 2010,” my new neighbor across the street was outside with his three-year-old, building a whopper of a snow man. They started at the bottom, of course, rolling the big base and getting it packed well to support the rest of the big chubby guy. What I loved watching, though, was how the dad plopped himself down in the snow to help his little son pat on his own snow offerings. He didn’t have on snow pants (not a staple down here in the typically “brown south”), just jeans, which were quickly soaking through. But he stayed down there until his son was finished, and then, in one quick motion, he swooped him up, onto his shoulders, so they could work on the higher parts of the snowman.

I haven’t been able to get the picture of them out of my head since I saw them, turning the images over and over in my mind. Typically, that happens when the Lord is trying to tell me something, so I wasn’t surprised when I saw the following verse this morning:

You give me your shield of victory; You stoop down to make me great.
2 Samuel 22:36 NIV

That sweet dad made himself low, stooping down to his son’s level to better relate, to better teach, without thought for himself (or the risk of frostbite to his backside!). He wanted his son to be victorious in the building of his first snowman; he wanted the memory and the bond that he was building to be great.

And so it is with Jesus. Certainly, He left the splendor of heaven to “stoop down” and get his hands dirty in the messiness of human existence for the ultimate purpose of lifting us to the position of His co-heirs, and making us great – something I’ll never get over. But what occurred to me in this snowy vignette is that He’s still doing it every day. The living Christ, through His Spirit, is traversing new landscapes with us, stooping down to better relate, to better teach, without concern over the cold or the messy. He just wants us to be victorious – not just ultimately victorious as His triumph over death proclaimed, but victorious as we live out every day.

I’m wrapped in warmth at the thought of the Savior I serve, thankful that He’s a “hand’s on” God…grateful that He finds beauty in stooping down.