God Was Here

 As a child, I attended Camp Lylewood every year for church camp.  It was a glorious time of adventure and excitement as every church camp should be.  The boys’ cabins were on one side of the property, so as to separate boys from girls.  (Though this measure never stopped the boys from using a massive slingshot to launch water balloons at the girls).  Inside the cabins were rows of bunkbeds.  Inevitably, the underside of each upper bunk bore the name of some boy who had been there before.  Carved, etched, or drawn in the wood comprising the bedframe were names of boys who had enjoyed camp and who desired to let others know that they had been there and that they had left their mark on this place.  So, they proudly scrawled Tom, Danny, or John "was here."

Genesis 2 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture.  In it we read how God "formed man out of the dust of the earth" (2:7).  The imagery here is that of God rolling up His sleeves and getting His hands dirty as He carefully formed mankind.  It is a beautiful portrayal of God's relationship with man.  Throughout history God has rolled up His sleeves and gotten His hands dirty as He intimately worked within the lives of men and women.   In the case of Abraham, God was a voice calling "follow me."  To Hagar God was the one who pointed to water.  To Jacob, God was one with whom he struggled and wrestled with.  To the Nation of Israel, He was the one leading their flight from Egypt in the form of a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.  In the case of Moses, God met with him face-to-face in the Tent of Meeting.  To Elijah, God was the small voice after an earthquake.  To Isaiah, God showed visions of what was to come.  As Christ, God descended as deity united with flesh to redeem mankind.  Finally, God came as His Holy Spirit to dwell within Christians.  

God is a living God who has always been at work within the world and continues to work in it to this day.  God is not some distant deity hidden away in palaces in the clouds.  Rather, He is The Almighty who walks amongst His creation and is intimately involved in the lives of His people.  

As parents, one of the greatest lessons we can teach our children is to look for the handiwork of God in our lives.  It is said that familiarity breeds contempt.  I am convinced that God's work is so prevalent in our lives that we often take it for granted.  We must retrain our eyes and ears to look and listen for God, not because He is hard to find, but because, in the everyday hustle and bustle, we have learned to take His works for granted.

How is God working in your life?  If you pay attention you will find his handiwork, his signature, everywhere declaring "God was here."

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