“I’m convinced that
nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38a (Common English Bible)
Tommy
Lasorda, former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, tells about an experience
he had in church. One Sunday he was in Cincinnati for a ball game against the
Reds. That morning he went to early morning Mass and happened to see the Red’s
manger there. They were old friends and sat beside each other during Mass.
Afterward, the Red’s manager said, “Tommy, I’ll see you at the ballpark. I’m
going to hang around a little.” Lasorda said that when he reached the door, he
glanced back over his shoulder. He noticed that his friend was praying at the
altar and lighting a candle. He said, “I thought about that for a few moments.
Then, since we needed a win very badly, I doubled back and blew out his
candle.”[i]
Though misguided, what a powerful demonstration of faith in God’s presence and
activity!
Countless
people today long for that deep confidence in God’s presence and activity in
their lives. God seems distant to them. They plod through each day, fearful,
anxious, and burdened with uncertainty. Some may remember once having a close
relationship with God but that was a long time ago. Prayers seem to never rise
higher than the ceiling – and that is when we even feel like praying! The good
news is that this is not an uncommon experience in the Christian faith. Just as
people can grow apart in relationships with one another, so we can drift away
from God. As Thomas Tewell once said to me, the difference is that in human
relationships, both parties contribute to the distance. But, in a relationship
with God, the reality is that we drift away from God. God never drifts away
from us.
In those
moments when God seems distant, what are we to do? Perhaps an experience I had
this past week will help. My daughter, Rachael, is in Norway – a studio
photographer for the Holland America Cruise Lines. It’s not uncommon for
Rachael to work twelve and fourteen hour days. Wi-Fi is limited and with her
long hours it is difficult to “connect” with her by telephone or by other means
in real time. Just this week, Rachael reached-out to me via Facebook Messenger.
She said that for a limited time she was available to receive a phone call from
me and that she really would like me to call. Immediately, I moved something
that was already on my calendar to another time and placed the call. Do you see
what happened? Suddenly, my greatest desire was to speak with my daughter. To
do so, I had to make the time.
We reconnect
with God the same way. We move beyond our desire to be close with God and
carve-out time from our busy lives to simply be still in God’s presence. We
open the Bible and read expectantly, asking God to speak powerfully through the
words that we read on the page. We learn from our reading more about God, about
God’s good desires for us, and we learn what God requires of us. We spend time
together with God. And we listen; we listen deeply in the silence following our
reading to the hunches, the promptings, and the direction we sense from God. As
we respond positively, the distance we once felt from God begins to close.
Joy,
[i] William R. Bouknight, The
Authoritative Word: Preaching Truth In A Skeptical Age. (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 2001) 30.
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