Greetings,
I want to pick up where my story left off yesterday. Remember, I had asked God to do something with me and it was apparent that He was going to keep His word!
After coming to Christ in Galena I found myself looking at the world with different eyes. Perhaps it wasn't as if I had different eyes but that I was looking through a different lens. It was shortly after my "God Experience that I began to see, think, and act in a different way. As I said before I felt as if a load had been taken off my shoulders. I also began to look at my friends differently. I found that I wasn't drawn to things I used to do (drinking). I found that I now had things in common with others on the base that I had not taken the time to meet.
One of those individuals happen to be a Master Seargent (MSgt) in my communications group. Obviously Master Seargents and Buck Seargents don't regularly hang out together. However, I found that, through the chapel, we did just that. It appeared that this "God Thing" Knew nothing about rank structure. Well, I guess the only rank structure there was saw the triune God at the top and everyone else below! And even that wasn't true because on my journey home I have found myself beside Christ alot more than I have found myself under Him. God works like that. In our most darkest times He comes along beside us to encourage us.
Through my relationship with the MSgt. I began to grow in the word of God and spent the rest of my time in Galena holding a position on the Chapel board. I learned many things about church structure and administration by being a part of that group. Then it came time for my time to leave Galena. 365 days had passed and it was time for me to leave. No one can really tell how long 365 days are unless you count them down one day at a time. We commonly refer to our 365 day cycle as a "year". The funny thing is that in Galena time was different. I am not sure whether it was the -70 degree days, the lack of sunlight in the winter, or the lack of darkness in the summer but regular time did not exist in Galena, AK. The reason that I know this is that it took 5 years for 365 days to pass! Well, maybe it just seemed like that was case!
Nevertheless, it was time for me to go and a question kept burning in my mind. When I leave Alaska, is God coming with me? I know that sounds like a silly question. But to a new Christian it was real! I wasn't sure that the joy I had found in my heart would translate back in the "real world". I was leaving a place where God had found me and I had found God. The only question was will He go with me?
My journey home has shown me that God loves to show up announced. From the hounds of heaven in Alaska to a silent room of the Neuro ICU, He makes himself known to us. I am sure that we don't take the time to always realize His presence. However, maybe we should. Maybe, just maybe, taking the extra moment to recognize and acknowledge the presence of the spirit of God could change a bad day into a good one, or an unbearable circumstance into one that is just bearable.
I encourage you, this day, to take time and know that God is with you. In my church we take time at the beginning of our services to "Be still and know that He is God". That's the realization that God is with us us, "Emmanuel".
Join me next time when I share with you the great story of God's presence back in "the real world".
I leave you with bendiction:
May God go with you this day. May He go behind you to encourage you, beside you to befriend, above you to watch over you, and in fron of you to show you the way!
Blessings,
Derek
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