Connected

My family took a much needed mini vacation to our favorite spot in Fiji, Treasure Island.  We needed this time where Ryan and I didn't have to think about work or ministry but just spend some time on our family.  God knew we needed this time.  A potential cyclone had moved in a few days prior and we considered canceling but in the end we knew we needed to go so we did and it was perfection.

I love to take pictures, love it!  I see something beautiful and I want to capture it.  I spend a lot of my time taking pictures of the world around me because I just want to share what my eyes are seeing.  I didn't realize the impact of the message God would reveal to me in this.  I was sitting on the edge of the pool watching the ocean below.  There were fish hiding up in the rocks clearly trying to avoid a predator on the prowl and then I saw him!  This was our second sighting of the beautiful tiny black tip reef shark!  The first time he swam right up to us on the shore as we were getting ready to snorkel, so close we could have touched him.  I watched him cruise slowly on the outer edge of the rocks and instead of being still in that moment and enjoying it I called to Ryan to bring me my phone so I could snap a picture.  By the time I got my phone the shark was gone and I had missed it.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to capture a moment, there is nothing wrong with wanting to share the beauty, but how often are we so busy trying to capture something that we miss the experience of it!  I realized that for two days I captured many moments, moments that I missed the experience of, moments that were there for me to enjoy but passed me by.  I put down the phone and I gazed out at the ocean realizing that far to often our faith walk can fall into this trap.

It's simply not enough to read the word, we need to experience the word.  It's not enough to just know of God, to have a picture of who He is and what He has done, but miss the intimacy with Him.  It's not enough to have religion, we must have relationship!  So many Christians walk around with an emptiness, it comes from not being engaged with God.  It's wonderful to read your Bible every day (you absolutely should), but it needs to go a step further, you need to consume the very word of God!

For example;
Philippians 4:6-7
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

I can read this verse and think, "so I'm not supposed to worry about anything and I'm supposed to pray about everything and God will give me peace, sounds great but...."

Just reading these words won't change my view, but when I engage these words, when I put them to the test, when I ask God to give me understanding and to help me through this discipline I get to experience Him!  What I come to realize when I dig into this verse is that peace is something unattainable outside of a relationship with God.  Peace is impossible for those who do not know God.  Peace is a gift and it comes with instructions!  When I start to engage the word it changes my life!  A snapshot of the verse is nice, but the experience of the verse is life changing!

We are told to abide in Him and He will abide in us, without this very personal and relational connection we can not live effective lives.  It's not enough to check in from time to time, say your set prayer when you wake up, or before you go to bed and before meals.  These things are important, but to truly experience God we have got to stop taking snap shots and engage Him!  Abide is an action, we are called to be in the action!  It's interesting, no matter what filter or program you use, a picture can hardly compare to the beauty of what your eyes see.  It's where art comes from, where poetry is born, God's creation.  We see something so beyond our imagination that we want to capture it and share it, but when we do capture it somehow it doesn't compare to the real deal.  The experience, that is where the magic lives!

Pictures are great, they take us back to memories that we want to keep in our hearts.  There is nothing wrong with taking pictures, unless your focus is so caught up in taking the pictures that you miss the encounter.  I have noticed at certain times in my life my quiet time has gotten robotic and that it doesn't fill me the way it does when I am fully engaged.  I think as humans we sometimes struggle with that, each in our own way!  Time with God is not a box to check, its not an obligation to be carried out, but it is a relationship to be cherished and savored.  God loves it when we open the Word, but He loves it even more when we take time to talk to Him about the Word.  God loves it when we pray, but He loves it even more when we spend our day in conversation with Him.  Your eyes don't always have to be closed, God is walking with you and He loves to talk to us, conversations with Him are not exclusive to a quiet moment alone.

LORD, help me to experience You daily, to truly live each moment with You.  Put me in a position to encounter You on a deeper level each day.  You are offering me experiences, help me not to be satisfied with snap shots!  I'm sorry Lord when I detach and try to navigate on my own.  Teach me to engage life, to live it, to experience it all with You for Your purpose and Your plan.  I want to always abide in You so that You abide in me, I do not want to be a branch cut off by the business and distractions of the world.  You promise that if I draw near to You that You draw near to me, thank You for never leaving my side, for always speaking clearly to my heart and for keeping me pointed at the cross. Apart from you Lord I can not serve effectively for Your Kingdom, I want to bear much fruit for you in my life. Amen