God is Present


“I will never leave you or forsake you.” —Hebrews 13:5

Jesus parting words to his closest friends was that he would always be with them. This is a weird thing to say after you have come back from the dead and you are about to ascend to heaven. Of course, rising from the dead and ascending like Jesus did were not exactly normal things to do. The stories about what Jesus did not fit into common expectations in the first century or any century for that matter. But Jesus says that he would “be with them always,” mimicking the promise of God given to the Israelites throughout the Old Testament (Deut. 31:8), and returning to the original plan of God walking with Adam in the Garden. Jesus claimed that he would present with us at all times. However, Jesus left his disciples and returned to the Father. It surely did not look like he would remain in their vicinity, much less be near them in an up-close-and-personal way. 

I struggle with believing this promise of Jesus. It is hard for me to image that Jesus is near as I go through my day at Target. I might be able to see God with me at church or even in my car as I drive to work. But when I walk through the doors at Target, it feels like God is up there and I'm down here in the slog. To help my mind see the reality of this promise I do an imaginative exercise. I see my day as a scene on a stage. On this stage, there are different rooms where I move from one to another. One room depicts our interaction as a family. One room is for friends. Another is for work. One is work. My office is one. I see myself spending time in each of these rooms. Then I imagine that God is moving with me through these rooms as I act out my day. Even more, I picture God already present in those rooms before I even enter them.

This means that when I enter the doors at Target, being pulled into the pressures of the day, I am entering a space where God is already present. Honestly, I’m not very good at remembering this. My mind is most often full of the things that I have to do. The physical reality of the work can easily consume my day and then I walk to the car at the end of my shift wondering if I was even aware of the most significant reality in the history of the universe. It’s a challenge because the reality of my work at Target is pressing on my in a tangible way. It’s undeniable. The presence of God with me is not something that materializes in a way that I am forced to deal with God. I can ignore God’s presence on the stage of life and get away with it. If I do that with the tangible stuff at Target, I will likely get fired. 

But if Jesus really rose from the dead, then maybe, just maybe, his promise that he is actually with me—even in the midst of the tugging and pushing of the things that we face—is something that is possible. And maybe, just maybe it is something worth remembering. 

Because I so easily forget that God is with me, I need something that will serve as a reminder of this hidden reality. Someone gave your mom a couple of crosses, and she gave one of them to me. It's in the picture above. I carry this cross in my pocket. It’s rather large and awkward, but when I put my hand in my pocket, I feel it. This tangible experience shifts my mind to see what is ultimately important. When I feel stress, I place my hand on it and I am prompted to take a deep breath and see that what I am facing is not as big as it feels. 

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