But I love him, she flippantly huffed as she hopped on and off the couch. Ryen Blake Olthoff, you can’t love him until you’re 25 years old. You’re not allowed to fall in love. Ever. Furthermore, you’re not following in love with a musician. Musicians are egocentric and vain, I retorted in the best motherly voice possible. She danced around to Never Say Never in the living room, twirling off beat and swaying her head like a forlorn hippy circa 1963. But I dooooooo love him, she emphatically stated with the zeal of a five year-old.

I laughed and let her believe a boy she never met or whose name she can’t pronounce will be her future husband for eternity. Justin Beaver [as she says] has swooned and crooned many young girls into infectious state of twitterpation, not love. There’s a scene in Disney’s classic movie Bambi, where the wise old owl explains what happens in spring to the young animals: They become twitterpated. Symptoms include being starry eyed, rapid heartbeat, and occasional drool. ๐Ÿ˜‰

In her tender little heart, she really believes she loves him because she feels something. But feelings fade. Feelings aren’t—and shouldn’t be—indicators of love. Byproducts, secondary qualifiers, added benefits? Absolutely! But what takes young, amateurish twitterpation to the place of real, authentic love?

Tonight in our penultimate gathering for our summer series, we will be discussing what a heart marked by love looks like. If we truly love God like we say we do, what should, could, and would our life look like? Join Tim Timmons for an acoustic worship set and me for a time in God’s word tonight at 7pm PST. You can watch us live online by clicking here.

If you’re tuning in online, let us know where you’re from!

Last question: If you could define the difference between loving and ย being in love, how would you define it? There’s no wrong answer, so speak candidly. ๐Ÿ™‚

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