Amy has been in Texas visiting her family this week while I stayed home with the kids. She was going to be gone during the Fourth of July, but I was determined that we would still enjoy the day’s festivities.

I planned on taking the kids to the Fourth of July parade in Braselton. It started at 10:30 a.m., so I got the kids up, dressed, fed and in the truck by 10:10.

We drove toward town with plenty of time to get set up in a good spot. But as we approached town, I saw a line of cars moving slowly down the street in front of us.

As we got closer, I saw the flashing lights of the police cruiser at the end of the line — signaling the end of the parade.

Turns out I was mistaken. The parade had started at 10 a.m. instead of 10:30. We’d missed the whole thing.

I quickly thought of a way to salvage the situation. People still lined both sides of the street. I rolled down the kids’ windows and told them to wave — that we were part of the parade.

As we drove along, the kids waving and yelling "Happy Fourth of July!" to everyone they saw, I thought about another celebration — a celebration that will take place when those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior will celebrate and worship him in heaven.

Here’s how I saw it as we drove along: the parade itself was a big event. Yet many people sat and watched the parade as it passed by. They were passive observers — they weren’t actively participating in the parade itself.

I contrasted their level of excitement with the level of excitement demonstrated by Chloe and Cole as they thought they were actually a part of the parade.

One of these days, we will not sit as passive observers while someone else worships the risen Christ. Rather, we will be active participants in that worship, ourselves. How exciting that will be!

But we don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to worship Christ. We don’t even have to wait until we’re sitting in church on Sunday morning.

We can be active participants in worshiping Christ no matter when, no matter where. As Jesus said to the woman at the well, worship is not a matter of geographic location. It’s a condition of the worshiper’s heart (John 4:21-24).

Let us all become active participants in the worship of Jesus Christ. But let’s not wait until we’re in heaven at some time in the future. Let’s worship him right now, wherever it is that we may be.