Dear Ann,

Remember those old Ann Lander's letters in newspapers? Readers would write to Ann and ask her opinion on all sorts of matters. Family, home, life, cooking, etc. Ann would provide written responses to those people on how to handle the situation and it seemed she had the answer for everything.

Honestly, I never much cared for that section of the newspaper. The questions were cheesy as were the answers. Many times the situation was very obvious and I always wondered if made up. Is it really that hard to realize that if your boyfriend of 3 months comes to you saying we should date other people, that he already has someone in mind and you should move on? It seemed funny that someone from say Millport, AL felt the need to deal with this problem this way. The letter was probably mailed a couple weeks before it made it into the paper. Hopefully, by then they are ok and over it. Even after all that, I wonder if Ann even read them all and answered them all.

Anyway, I have digressed quite a bit. What got me started on this thought was this:

I truly believe that God felt betrayed when the fall happen. The pinnacle of his creation was no longer perfect and he lost a cherished relationship.

Most all preaching, teaching, and studying on the fall of man always mentions the fact that man was betrayed. But what about God? He somehow gets lost in the shuffle. Ultimately, he was betrayed by man and lost the hearts of mankind, forever. He can get them back, but think of the price it takes? His own son had to die. Not just die but feel completely forsaken by God and lose every ounce of blood. Which led me to Ann Landers.

Imagine if God wrote Ann a letter (I am wired differently sometimes, these are thoughts that keep me up at night...God writing Ann Landers):

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Dear Ann,

I spent 5 days creating a perfect earth full of animals and the
sun with rivers and beaches. Trees, fruit, waterfalls, and
singing birds. It was perfect. Everyday I marveled at this creation.
But Ann, it didn't stop there. On the 6th day I created something
in my image. Man! Flesh, blood, eyes, ears, a brain. I literally
breathed life into him. Every day I walked with him in the
cool of the day. This part of the day is the moment I look
forward to everyday. I loved the relationship I had with him.

Even when he told me he was lonely, I responded immediately.
I brought every animal to him. Let him name them all.
Gave him complete dominion over them all. During many of
our conversations over the years it took him to name them
all, he still expressed his loneliness. When he was done,
and his need for companionship was still wanton, I put him
in a deep sleep, took a piece of his body and grafted it into
a new creation. When he awoke, the look on his face, in
his eyes, and his body posture, told me all I needed to know.
When he finally spoke, his words echoed throughout the
Garden as he named her Woman. This creation was flesh
of his flesh and his loneliness was gone forever.

Our talks continued for untold years. I could do this for
eternity. All was good. Then one day, I came into garden,
and no one was there to meet me. This never happened.
I began to call out his name. No reply. A knot began to
form in my pit and rose up through. My pace quickened
through the garden as I continued to call out. Finally, a
response from behind a tree. I was relieved. As I walked
forward, man and woman hid themselves from me. Why
were they hidng themselves? I suddenly realized, they
are ashamed! So I asked them why they were ashamed?
That's when the dagger struck me. They hid themselves,
they told me, because they were naked! My old friend,
an angel I loved so deeply and made the greatest of all,
turned his back on me eons ago and now he has destroyed
my masterpiece.

Oh, I have lost a relationship that I so desperatley want to
have. So much so that I will offer my own Son to be murdered
just to keep this relationship. Just to one day, walk in the cool
of the day with my creation again. To allow them to have a
heart that is like mine, incorrucptible. I will create a new
heaven and a new earth as well! One that is not devastated
and ravaged.

You see, I love this creation more than anything. I want to
have a deep, personal relationship with man. I crave it.
Quite literally, it kills me. You see, My Son is me, and I
will give his life. Just to allow man the option to accept it,
believe it, and have a heart cleansed in my Sons' blood
and one day, many years from now, they can sit with me
on the throne and drink from my cup and live out eternity
as it was meant to be. Perfect, spotless, my Son and I
surrounded by glory and celebration. The lion lying with
the lamb and no tear to be found.

That will be heaven. Pearly gates and gold roads. Everyone
living in mansions and wearing crowns. I can see it now.
Oh what glory and majesty! I must get to this now Ann.
It will take over 6,000 years to go through this. I know
I will be broken and betrayed by this creation until such
time, but to me, God, it is worth it to know this relationship
will one day be back to normal and go on forever.

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I believe this "letter" is a rather large, vastly paraphrased Bible. Don't get me wrong, we need all 66 books and every verse of it. But, this is the message of the Gospel. The Good News. God's unrelenting message to us on how to get back to a relationship with him. God (for lack of a better word) craves this relationship with us.

Think about this.....

He has spent all of known time creating everything and then giving it to us, then watching us destroy it and ourselves, only to let his Son be killed so he can give it all back.

Wow.