We go to the moon......

When I first walked with Him there were two realities that blew me away...

Immediately I was affected by the times when Jesus would say things that included, “I tell you the truth.” For one who had been so lied to and for one who had spent so much of her life lying, those words fell upon me like the dews of the first spring rains. I was so awe struck that there was One who proclaimed something such as that, “I tell you the truth....” but that it landed upon the soul as truth. That it landed upon the soul as truth affected me and rattled through me and brought dry bones to life for the first time.

The other statement wouldn't bring as much relief, it would bring a hunger. The other statement that I would read and re-read and read again, the other statement that I would trace my fingers over and yearn to touch the reality of, was when all the times from Leviticus to Jeremiah to Exodus and all the places throughout the Scriptures, the Lord, Himself, would speak, and say something to the affect of, “I will be there God and they will be my people.”

He tells the truth and I will belong to Him.

I could say no more.

That last statement would begin a pursuit of mine that has found it's course throughout the last two decades as I have walked with Christ. Sometimes more passionately then others but it has always lingered.

It has and is and will always be about His presence...

If I pursue nothing else my entire life but Him and His presence, I will have led a good life when I someday breath my last breath. Heck, I will have led a great life....

I get lost in the mystics of old and not so old.. their traditions, their instructions, their realities of knowing the sweet presence of Him, who says to us, I am Yours and be Mine.... Be my person.

For me I the bible characters I most think about these days are the Obed Edoms; those that knew that the presence of the Lord brought something to their lives that without it, they were left vacant...

Frank Laubach, puts this challenge out there about finding God in every minute. Some of his diary writings have been published alongside Brother Lawrence's, Practicing the Presence of God. After 20 years I finally allowed myself to purchase a new copy of that book, my had become tattered and old. Laubach states, that any individual who walks the way of attempting to find God in every minute for a month, will find their lives so thoroughly changed.

Couple the search and pursuit of His presence alongside the reality that He speaks of that which He longs to do, where He says; He goes before us, He makes a way, He conquers, He wins the victory and you have got a life worth living... It does not give permission for laziness nor attitudes of neglect BUT it speaks that if we wait, if we linger, if we pause, if we watch and look and partner with Him, we will live a most magnificent life. The magnificence IS NOT found in the action but in the reclining into Him. So one can say it is a magnificent life if one is leading armies or if one is being sawn in half. (Hebrews 11)

I lived a life without it and I will never forget first meeting Him, while I have not walked faithfully throughout the length of our times together, He has never missed a beat.

A story and then we can end....

When Jim and I lived in NJ, we owned this home. It was a time in His presence and a birthing of some of His ways into our life that was astounding. Our living room would so fill with the presence of God that if you were sitting on opposite sides of the room, you could not see one another. If Jim was on one sofa and I was on the other, the atmosphere was so filled with His presence that the cloud in the room would not permit us to see the other.

When we went to sell the house, there was this one couple. They already knew the house wasn't for them but as they made their way back to that living room they stopped. They stopped and stood there and for hours talked to Jim and I. They just did not want to leave that room. They still knew the house wasn't for them, but they were drawn and glued.

Touch the blanket of His presence and your life will never be the same.

We have seen the strength and might of men and women, I have watched and participated in the building of towers and in vanity construction of houses that the Lord was not building. Now I say alongside those who have gone before me, that but He goes with us we will not venture from point A.

There is no magic button, no conference you can attend or cd set you can listen to, there is no 5 step program nor is there a path that says anything to the way of, “try this and you too can have the perfect relationship with God in just two weeks.” Living with Him and abiding in His presence will look as individual as each person.

And I'll go even one step further into this.. it won't be easy. It will be hard. Anyone who sells you a christianity that promises only the glitter and glamour, is selling you the Brooklyn Bridge. Pursuing His presence above all else will require everything, but as He spoke, in losing your life you will find a life you never even dreamed possible of living.

I can not be your sweet little blogger who whispers poetic intrigue into your ears, I can tell you there is a very narrow path and it seems absolutely foolish to any who merely look at it... But put even one toe upon it and the smile will cross your face and a joy will enter your heart and your life will never be the same... He is our God and He calls us to be His people... NO greater statement was ever spoken...

John F Kennedy once said, 

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

I choose to pursue and pursue and pursue His presence. I choose to rest and to wait upon Him. I choose Him against ever false house built with vanity, I choose Him over every method and thought about how to successfully do this or that in His Kingdom.. not because it is easy but because it is the right thing to do.. it is hard and it will challenge every fabric of my being but I would rather walk with the 300 of Gideon's army then with a crowd of 32,000.