I don't remember a time when my folks had an opportunity to attend Back to School night. Mom didn't drive and Dad frequently worked late hours.

Fortunately, I knew how to drive and so, even if Danny wasn't available, I always made it to Back to School night. I wanted to know who my children would be spending their days with and I wanted their teachers to know that I knew.

I also wanted their teachers to understand two things.

The first thing I stressed was that I would not stand still for any disrespect offered by my children. If they spoke out of line, I wanted to know about it and promised the teachers, in the presence of my children, that I would deal with it forthwith.

Second to that I wanted the teachers to understand that I wasn't raising little tin soldiers and any attempts on their part to force my children's nice little round heads into square holes would meet with opposition. I think it helped to clarify expectations early on as neither situation ever occurred throughout the school years.

Don't get me wrong. Little tin soldiers are a lot easier to deal with than are unique, inquisitive, fence-testing individuals. I know. In addition to raising three children, I also taught Sunday School for a number of years. It would have been a lot easier to teach little tin soldiers for the Lord's Army than it was to teach those rambunctious darlings.

Understanding these basics of human nature and appreciating that I am anything but a little tin soldier underscores what I consider to be the bravest thing God did when creating man. Let's face it, he could have made it a lot easier on himself. In terms of the work in the original creation, in terms of maintenance, in terms of heartache and disappointment, if he had just left out this one ingredient, things would have gone a lot more smoothly in days gone by and would go a lot more smoothly yet today.

After all, he had plenty of other areas in which to display his creativity. Just looking at my own face in the mirror, I see a smaller version of my mother's nose, my dad's overbite in miniature, and cheekbones from a distant American Native ancestor. There is no one on earth just like me or just like you, because God has an unending supply of pliable clay with which to shape us along with a brilliant palette of colors for skin, hair and eyes.

In addition to physical appearances, he also has an endless supply of personalities. After all, a stubborn streak is only a liability if you want something other than what I want. In different circumstances, stubbornness is just another word for perseverance, which is a positive character trait. Some of us are naturally more nurturing than others, while others are problem solvers, more interested in fixing things than in listening to how broken they are.

Some are busy bees, flitting from one task to another while others are more content to put their feet up and savor a moment of quiet solitude. Impulsive people make interesting companions and nosy Nellies keep us entertained.

Even setting humanity aside altogether, and taking a look at the animal kingdom, leaving flora, fauna and insects out, variety is a not a problem for God. Monkeys in trees, gazelles gliding across the veldt and raccoons with their burglary masks permanently in place are evidence enough of his ability to imagine and create.

Still, in creating us, he chose the courageous route. No Terra Cotta Warriors for him. He left that to Qin Shi Huang.

God could no more leave out that one critical ingredient than he can walk away from his creation today, though we often walk away from him.

The ingredient that defines the courageous heart of God is free will. Giving us the right and the responsibility to choose elevates us far above the green grass, the roaring sea or even the soaring eagle. Because that ingredient, more than any other, is the one that defines us as having been created in his image and no other. And for some inexplicable reason, he in turn, chooses to love us, to save us and to pursue us. May we, then, choose to love him in return.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 (NIV)

Things you won't see in heaven:

Terra Cotta Warriors