Edwardo had often wondered, “Where is God?”

Edwardo would lay in his bed at night and wish that God would tangibly come hug him and tuck him in (it seemed a fatherly thing for God to do, and a childlike thing for Edwardo to want). Every night Edwardo yearned for it, and wondered “Where is God?”

Edwardo heard disturbing reports on the news and wondered, “Where is God?”

Edwardo sometimes felt agitated and anxious, and he became irritable and impatient; and he wondered “Where is God? Why won’t he simply flip off the switch of anxiety and irritability in the breaker box of my mind?”

Then Edwardo read Genesis chapter 30 and the question changed.

Edwardo’s question shifted from “Where is God?” to “God is where!?@!?!?”

Edwardo was shocked and dismayed – but also intrigued – to find that God was regularly and intimately hanging around with an exceedingly eccentric and dysfunctional family! This family was comprised of twelve sons (and at least one daughter), one husband/father, and four wives. The wives had divided themselves into two teams, and they chronically, contentiously, competed with each other to see who could have more children. Whenever one of the wives had a child, she would boast and brag, and rub the fact of her fertility in the face of the rival wife(s)! They would even name their children things like “God has judged me better than you!” and “I paid a stud fee to have sex with hubby, and I’ve been rewarded with a baby!”

As Edwardo considered the debauched saga of this aberrant household he thought, “Nothing good could ever come from such a dysfunctional family!” And yet – God was there!