At the BBQ

I was at a family barbeque not long ago... we had gone up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and the town was packed with people. While tending to the grill, I was also watching our 7 year old Ethan out of the corner of my eye while the rest of our group went down to the lake. With well over 100 children playing on the jungle gym and the surrounding equipment, I lost sight of him in the crowd. I was about to panic because I didn’t want to ruin the steaks and sausages by leaving them unattended but I also couldn’t risk my son being kidnapped or wandering off! I was about to pull the feast off of the grill when I remembered that I can use my senses. You know, my “supernatural parental senses.” I immediately remembered the color of his shoes and of his shirt. As I looked into the collage of colors swirling in front of me, I saw his color combination moving within the mix. Then I listened for his voice within the loudness of a multitude of voices and I heard him excitedly talking to another kid as they played. I spent the rest of the next 30 minutes calmly watching him and listening to him from a distance even though I rarely actually saw him fully.

Sometimes we get so BUSY! And we feel guilty for our busy-ness because we have all heard (and preached) 100+ sermons on how we should not be so busy and spend more time with family and with God. I believe that. But what if our busy-ness is with family and with God? I have often thought that I need to take time out of my schedule for God and have come to realize that this is totally crazy. I need to include God in my life, every moment of every day. God doesn’t want us to visit him like we visit Grandpa, but He wants to live with us in the moment!

As Joy and I are busy settling in to our new life and ministry in Manila, in the craziness of it all, we know what our God looks like and we know His voice. We don’t want to lose sight or sound of Him at all as we get cooking’!

How about you??? I don’t have too many monks in my readership that I know of. Most of you are busy family people or busy career, ministry or school people. Let me encourage you that you don’t have to live in a Monastery to spend every second with Him. Go for it today and always! Live in His presence and let Him live in every one of your moments!