Where is God?


It's a question usually asked from within the swirling chaos of pain, torment, bewilderment, and anger. It's often voiced with vehement emotion, and often demands a negative response. It can also be heard emitted from skeptics or mockers; again, a negative answer is expected.

How often is this asked by the eager disciple calmly enjoying the happy Christian life? This is my goal, my ardent desire: to spend my life asking this question. Not in an angry, derisive way, but in an honest, seeking, and worshipful way. And not just in the crazy, horrific, mind-numbing contexts (where is God when the little girl next door is raped nightly?) This is a question that is just as pertinent to the mundane tasks of everyday life. Where is God as I go about my job? How can I see God in this movie? What is God doing while I'm raking leaves on a windy afternoon? Can I even see God when I'm doing my taxes? My personal favorite is to wonder where God is when I'm having sex with my wife?

A friend of mine recently described a place full of committed Christians as a place were "God was everywhere." Those simple words keep rambling about in my brain, bouncing around, refusing to take their leave. I know the doctrine that God is everywhere, and I see Him often enough, I guess. But do I see Him everywhere? Do I wake, eat, sleep, work, think, play, read, drive, run, study, sneeze, kiss, breath God? Is the world I see as full of God as the Emerald City was full of green? If not, perhaps I should change my glasses... even the Emerald City didn't seem green with the wrong pair of glasses.

What an exciting challenge I've set before myself, what an invigorating, life-breathing attempt at constantly connecting with Jesus. The attempt to look at the world not through Tim colored glasses, but through lenses tinted with the Divine. Knowing me, it is also an impossible task-- my myopic eyes are too dependent on my old prescription. Lucky for me, I know a guy.

I know a guy who is everywhere.