"Mr. Fantasy."  It's an enticing name, an intriguing thought:  a person who can fulfill our richest fantasies and wildest dreams.  Traffic, a British rock band of the Sixties, wrote and performed a song of this name throughout the world.  "Dear Mr. Fantasy," the words go, "you are the one who made us all laugh, but doing that you break out in tears; please don't be sad if it was a straight mind you had, we wouldn't have known you all these years."
     Though I do not know whether Traffic intended to weave spiritual overtones into this song, listening to the lyrics afresh made me think:  how this is like God.  As creator and redeemer of the world, God wishes for his creation to enjoy life, to revel in its beauties, to marvel at its wonders.  God is a God of joy.
     In order to ensure this joy, however, God had to cry.  He had to cry horribly.  In the person of Jesus, God had to weep and howl with pain as he hung on a Roman cross two thousand years ago.  He had to die the worst of all deaths.  But God knew that joy would not come without those tears. He knew that redemption would not happen apart from immense suffering on his part. He knew he had to shed his tears.
     And yes, if God was nothing more than a "straight mind," a black and white line, we would never know him.  God had to rejoice, he had to weep; he had to revel, he had to cry.  Otherwise, creatures of emotion that we are, we would never be able to connect with our creator.