going knotts

Don Knotts died last week.

On Nick At Nite they threw up this short montage every once in a while that sums up Don...

- "Deputy" (while showing clips of Andy Griffin)

- "Landlord" (while showing clips of Three's Company)

- "Friend" (while showing clips of him at an award show among peers)

Then the montage ended. Very powerful and emotional. Makes you feel all nice and warm inside.

Now, we know there is more to Don Knotts than this, and yet because it's all we're familiar with we're comfortable summing him up in a 30 second commercial.

I wonder what else we feel like we can adequately sum up in 30 seconds when there is obviously more to the story than we're able to label. How quickly we try to pocket who people are while completely missing "the rest of the story." In a lame sort of way, we tend to do that to God, too. It drives me knotts... er, nuts... everytime I think that I have the Lord figured out only to remember that this is impossible.

And yet...

I love serving a God whom I am able to know while he continues to retain his mystery. A God who cannot be summed up in a 30 second anything and yet chooses to become like us so that we can become like him.

Because he is good, I can trust him.

Because he is indescribable, I can follow him.

Because he is Jesus, I can recognize him.

"How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out." (Job 36:26)