the presence of God....finding the extraordinary in the ordinary

It's been a long time since I last wrote to you, but let's continue as if little or no time has passed...

Since I last wrote I have written papers, taken tests, went to Israel, and fell more in love with Katie and of course with Jesus. That about sums it up. I have thought for a while if I should write about my trip to Israel, but I don't think that I will write much since there is really too much to say. You should go sometime if you have a chance. What I can tell you is that while it was amazing to sit in the land of the Bible, and that it was very spiritually strengthening, it was not what I thought that it would be. I think that part of me expected to be moved to tears everywhere I went, overwhelmed by what I saw, and to come back a different person in at least some ways. But it wasn't really that at all. I was overwhelmed at times, but not all the time, I came back very much the same person that I left as, and I didn't cry very much at all, save a couple of times. What I can say was that my faith was enriched but not how I thought that it would be. God was there, but in the same way that he was at home. I have found since I have been home, how amazing it is to feel that God's presence though it is in the holy places of Israel, and in the beautiful majestic churches of Jerusalem, that God is very much in Wesley Chapel, that he is very much in my own bedroom, and that he has followed me everywhere. Though I was fascinated by what I saw, I was taught a deeper lesson in the presence of God.

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I am writing this in two parts exactly one month apart, one part was written on March 25 and the other on April 25, thus explains the line, and I'm sorry for the delay. The reason I come back to this entry, is that I feel that this idea of God being everywhere and not just in the Holy Land needs to be expounded on a little further. I was talking to my friend Chris about this the other day and felt that the conversation merited being mentioned since it is pertinent. Our Chapel is under construction so we have been having Chapel at some interesting places, and we recently had Chapel on the Quad. It was interesting to me to be singing hymns and hearing a sermon preached in the open air with the sun shining on us, and it made me think again about the presence of God as it refers also to all of creation. I remembered something that I heard once about the monastic group in Ireland, and their motto was that they would "Find the Extraordinary in the Ordinary." Isn't that what we are called to do in our worship? To find the extraordinary in ordinary? The reason I bring this up, is that as I sang those hymns, I could not help but think of all creation worshiping along side of us, that God is very much a part of every part of his creation. I think this is how I made sense of the feeling that God was just as strong here as any place else. That no matter where I go I am in God's creation, which means that I am always within God. This thought Comforted me. I hope that it comforts you too. I hope that we can live each day admiring the wondrous creation all around us that seems so ordinary, and see the extraordinary behind it. And it is in those moments that we can say to ourselves and to God, that we are always within him, and that he is never far away.