Most people who know me very well know that I call my parents "momma" and "daddy."  It's actually kind of a Southern or Appalacian thing I adopted a long time ago.  These terms seem to hold a very endearing feel.  I have known my parents my whole life and am really very close to both of them. 

I also have a Heavenly Father.  I often begin the day with a prayer that starts out something like "Good morning, Lord God Heavenly Father..."  I actually read this little way of addressing God in a Christian novel about an Amish woman.  I adopted it for my own because I felt like it had both the personal, intimate feeling and the reverent, honoring feeling that my Father and my God deserve.

Then I hear people refer to God so casually.  I'm talking about Christians here.....people who claim to be part of the family of God.  What is happening to the fear of the Lord?  I am NOT afraid of my daddy but I certainly respect him.  I am one of three people on this earth who get to call him daddy, but I am not one of the millions who could call him Duane.  If I ever decided to call him "my old man" or "hey, Anderson" he would be one very insulted man and I would be one very sorry soul!  He gave me life and he has sacrificed A LOT to make that life everything wonderful he could. 

Christians are doing this to God though.  Oh, they may not call Him "the man upstairs" or whatever, but I see them no longer capitalizing His name or pronouns referring to Him.  I hear them talking like He is a genie in a bottle who they can just ask for any little thing and expect Him to answer exactly how they want.  It bugs me.

Yup, I've been called the Dictionary Dork and the Grammar Geek and the Spelling Queen and a few other sweet little loving names.  Yup, I'm very old school and follow the old paths in so many areas of life.  Yup, I'm a conservative and have been labled "old fashioned" and "way, way, way too strict."  But I insist that God deserves all the respect and honor that I can possibly find to give Him.  Yes, He is my Abba Father.  In Hebrew culture the term Abba was similar to our term daddy.  And God is my personal God whom I love and tell everything to.  But He is the God who created the universe and who sent His Son to die in my place.  He is holy!  He deserves all the respect I can give Him and then He deserves sooooo much more!

People will say it's a little thing, but I am determined to never give up the capitalization of God's name when I write.  I refuse to call Him by slang terms or to "dumb down" the way I talk about Him to others.  Who's with me?  Are you going to stand around and let people make our Holy God less and less respected?  "It takes one little step to begin a journey of a thousand miles."  Use the shift key when you write His name and use the names He has given us to use.  He has done so much more than we can comrehend and deserves our respect in every area of life!