Snow Daze
It's February 2, 2011. Owasso just yesterday experienced it's largest snowfall in recorded history - 21". I believe most of that 21" is piled up against my garage door. Later this morning I'll take my boys and we'll start digging out.
It's been a fun two days. Everything is closed. Everyone is home. Friends and family are burning up Facebook and the phones checking on one another sharing stories. The schedule of our world slowed to a crawl, covered in a blanket of white.
The snow will be the story and focus of attention this week. Everyone seems to be walking around in a snow daze. They cant't stop talking about the snow. I'm sure it's affects will remain and be seen for awhile, but I'm guessing that by this time next week life will be back to normal. Most of the snow will have melted with only a few large drifts left to show for it.
As I read this verse I'm reminded that most people experience God the way we've experienced this snow. Maybe there's a crisis. Perhaps there's a great need. It may even involve an incredible victory. Whatever the case, something happens to make you abundantly aware of the presence of God in your life. You talk about it with friends and family. You rejoice in the fact that God is clearly with you, the schedule of your life covered in a blanket of the pure and powerful grace of God.
But then time passes. The crisis goes away. The victory fades into the past. Life returns to normal and all that's left is a fading memory of the greatness of our God.
That's not how I want to live my life. It's not what I want for the people of our church or community. It's not what Moses wanted for the Children of Israel either. In this verse Moses says, "God, if you're not with us, we don't want to go." Moses prayed to God asking for His presence. He didn't want their experience with God to be a single, history setting moment, but a perpetual condition of reality. He wanted the presence of God to be the normal experience of the Children of Israel.
That's what I want for me, my family, my church and our community. I want the fact that we live in the presence of God to be our normal experience of life. I want my heart turned toward and tuned in to Him every moment of the day. I want to recognize that going anywhere outside His presence is a colossal waste of time or worse, a dangerous place to be. I don't want my awareness of His presence in my life to fade like the snow that covers my house right now.
Today, recognize you can walk in the presence of God. Listen to Him and let Him influence where you go, what you do, what you say and who you're with. Determine right now that you won't go anywhere apart from His presence. The snow may melt. The story may change, but you can walk daily in His presence.
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