The Wonderful Omnipresence

This being Sunday, my thoughts wander to my home of Asbury; thinking of those I love and praying for their time together as a family.  We also enjoyed the wonderful presence of God today. 

Family camp is going on this week in Alberta Beach.  Dave loves coming here because so many memories were made here for him.  Many weeks of his summers growing up were spent in his family’s cabin surrounded by good friends.  Riding bikes through the camp ground with his comrades, devouring chips and gravy at the snack bar, and playing Rook into the early hours of the morning were all parts of these memory-making moments.  But for me, the most significant are those spiritual milestones that have helped grow him into the man I love.

This morning as we were in the chapel together, my mind tried to imagine him as a younger man and the many speakers he would have heard, the songs that would have touched his heart and the times he had spent around the altar listening to the voice of God.  I was not here to witness those moments myself but I know they existed from the stories Dave has shared with me.  They are not my stories to tell but I am thankful for the faithfulness of God and how He shapes us through time and circumstance.

As my mind wandered through time, I was brought back to the present and reflected on how important and significant even today is.  Dave commented at the beginning of the service, “Wow, I’m actually sitting next to my wife! Do you know how long it has been since we sat together in a church service?”  I replied, “Sure, honey, it was last week…for about 2 minutes during announcements!” J  That’s just one of the prices you pay with being in the ministry and it’s one I am willing to pay.  However, it did trigger thoughts in my mind. 

During the worship service, we sang the chorus, Your Grace is Enough, by Chris Tomlin. 

Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters and to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart

So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

My mind focused in on the words: “Remember Your people, Remember Your children, Remember Your promise, O God.”  And I thought of “Your people”…..These people…all standing around me who don’t know me, but their lives intertwine with mine because we share a common place in the heart of God.  We are all experiencing His Presence as He visits us here in His sanctuary.  Then again my thoughts wander to how many times my husband has experienced His presence in this sanctuary and where, even now, my own children are experiencing this same Presence at the same campground as their Dad. 

He remembers His people, He remembers His children and He remembers His promise to us.  He is faithful to a thousand generations of those who seek Him and love Him. (Deut. 7:9).