As God Walks

The famly and I had the wonderful oportunity to travel this past weekend to Baltimore to see the seniors from the school I used to serve at as they concluded their Senior Trip. It was a great blessing, as be we there or not, they are still "our kids." The visit was fairly short (about 2 hours), but most enjoyable. The visit was another example of God's unending goodness. The small blessings that He sends to remind us that He loves and cares for us are so very wonderful. After we left the FCA group at BWI, we spent an hour at Inner Harbor, then moved over to Fells Point where we ate lunch at a pizza place profiled on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives -- quite good. Next time I get to Baltimore we will visit a BBQ place profiled on DDD.

Colossians 2 begins with Paul commenting on his concern for those he loved in Colossae. It is somewhat the same feeling that I have, now settled into ministry in PA and yet having those we love halfway to China, or so it seems. God has shown that He is faithful and He continues to meet our needs, even as He allows us to serve here and keep up with our friends there.

One of the interesting aspects of God as reflected in Scripture is His personification. We know that He is a spirit, yet He is described with the qualities of a man. He sees; He hears, He listens; He walks. In Genesis, God walks through Eden seeking Adam and Eve, though in His omniscience He knew exactly where they were. In Colossians, as well in other books, we find the admonition to walk. We are to walk with God, living out our knowlwdge of God. If we are walking alongside of God, He does not need to go hunting for us as He did for Adam and Eve. We need to stay close to God through meditating on the Word, which in turn increases our love for Him. As our love for God increases, greater is the likelihood that we will heed the "put off" and "put on" commands of Col. 3. Christlike living is the result of godliness, it is not godliness of itself. Many people "do" to demonstrate their love for God; He wants us to "be" and understand the doing is simply the natural result of "being." It all starts with our walk. Does God need to find us or does He sense us close by?