What do you call Him?
     Years ago, after I resigned from the "professional" (full time/paid) ministry and joined the corporate world, I met a guy named PJ. PJ worked in my department and was several years older than me. As we became friends, he shared stories with me about his two tours as a soldier in Vietnam back in the 1960's. He served in special operations, so he found himself in many precarious situations during his years of service.
     PJ was the first person I ever heard refer to God as "the Big Guy." He was one of the most non-religious guys I knew, but as he shared with me some of the terrible predicaments he was in during the war, and how much he relied on "the Big Guy" to get him through, I saw within PJ a deep sense of "spirituality." The way he talked about his times of intimacy with "the Big Guy" left no doubt in me that PJ had a profound respect for Him and cherished Him beyond depth.
     I never heard PJ refer to God as anyone else but "the Big Guy." His "term of endearment" for the Lord resonated with me, as it was birthed from the bottom of PJ's heart.
Thee/Thou
     This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James translation of the Bible. The original text of the King James version is full of "thee" and "thou." While some of the old hymns still sung today contain some thee/thou language, I've never heard those words used in the "marketplace" of everyday life. I've never used them in conversation. The key word here is "conversation."
     On one of my early morning walks I was sharing my heart with God and it occurred to me that I had never asked Him how He was doing. So, I stopped there in the street, raised my eyes to the heavens and asked: "How are YOU doing today, God?"
     After I asked, I stood still and quietly to see if/how He might answer. After a few moments, I sensed that He responded: "The same."  Well, that certainly put a smile on my face as I shared a special moment with Father. In future posts I'll write more about "hearing God's voice" but my point here is one of intimate conversation and how the way we address God may help us WAKE UP our spiritual lives.
     When you are conversing with God, how do you address Him? Do the words/names you use resonate with you? Is there a sense of intimacy in your greeting? A sense of friendship? A sense of sweetness?
¿Como Estas?
    "¿Como Estas?" means "How are you?" in Spanish. In Spanish, there are two forms of the singular "you." One is informal, used, for example, to address close friends and family (in this case the informal "you" for the "to be" verb "estar" is "estas"); one is formal, used to address new acquaintances and/or to use as a sign of respect (the formal "you" for the "to be" verb "estar" = "esta" ... "¿Como esta?"). 
     I'm an intermediate level Spanish speaker. I LOVE to listen to live worship music in Spanish on my car CD player. One thing that struck me deeply not too long ago was that in Spanish, when you address God in worship, you always use the INFORMAL form for "you." The formal "you" is "usted." The informal "you" is "tú." 
     So, when the Psalmist cries out in Psalm 71:3 "you are my rock" in Spanish that's "tú eres mi roca."
    If you have any foreign language capabilities, in order to help WAKE UP your spiritual life I encourage you to read the Word and/or to listen to some worship music in that language to see how others address God.
Go for it...get real...
    I encourage you to be "real" in your conversation with God. Let down any defenses you might have and decrease the distance that "formal" language may create by using terms of endearment. In one of His most vulnerable times in prayer, Jesus used the term "abba" (daddy) when He addressed Father. I pray your conversations with the Big Guy will increase in their sense of "realness" for you as you press into Him and develop an even greater sense of intimacy in your conversations with Him.
     I would LOVE to hear from you about how you address God and maintain a sense of intimacy with Him in conversation.