Wayne Cordeiro told this story during an interview: "A Personal Relationship"<\/p>\n\n
When my daughter Amy was three years old, we had her in a preschool. They were going to give the parents of the preschoolers a Christmas concert, so we filled a tight-capacity room. Every parent was there, equipped with a camera and the biggest flash it could bear. About 30 kids came out and filled up the risers, all tucked together. One willing-hearted teacher up front led them in "Joy to the World." She had a nylon string guitar that probably hadn't been played since the Christmas program the year before, and that was probably the last time it was tuned as well. Nevertheless, she had a willing heart.<\/p>\n\n
The kids were only three years old. They could barely speak in complete sentences, let alone sing full measures of music. Undaunted, the teacher began her solo\u0097"Joy to the world!"\u0097but the kids were more interested in locating their parents: "Hi, Daddy! Hi, Mom!" The teacher kept singing, "Joy to the world!" Then Amy saw me. I took a picture of her. The teacher kept singing, "Joy to the world!" Just then one of the boys in the back of the risers began to fall backwards. He bravely took four others with him. Bang! She kept singing, "Joy to the world!"<\/p>\n\n
It was absolute chaos: formless and void. When the song was done, I was the first to jump to my feet like popping corn. The parents gave the kids a standing ovation. We took pictures. It was like Halley's comet had just come through the room. We were all so proud.<\/p>\n\n
After it was done, I went outside to get some air, and I was chuckling to myself. I thought, We just gave a standing ovation to the worst concert we've ever heard. I just took pictures of the worst concert I've ever heard.<\/em> Then I thought, But wasn't Amy good? She's cool. <\/em><\/p>\n\n Why in the world did I applaud? It wasn't because of their performance. It was because that was my little girl up there. I applauded them based not on performance but on relationship. When I was thinking about that, it was as if the Lord again reminded me: Wayne, that's why I applaud you. It has nothing to do with your performance. It has everything to do with the fact that you have a relationship with me and you're my kid.<\/p>\n\n My heart began to melt and tears came to my eyes, because I began to understand that what pleases God the most is the relationship we have with him.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3569,3570,3968,3969,4088,4400,4596,4704],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-49000","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-children-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-grace","tax_ctp_tags-love-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-parenting","tax_ctp_tags-pride"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n