I Can't Get Past the Evidence

When my cousin was really young -- three or four years old -- his parents told him that God is everywhere -- that God wasn't only in church, but He was everywhere. Later that day, my aunt and uncle took him to a drive in movie (back when Huntington had a drive in movie). When they got there, he stuck his head out the window, and yelled, "Hey, God, we're here!"

How do we know when God is with us? How do we know when God is present? If we work from the premise that God is always with us, then how do we know when he is WITH us? To try to bring some clarity to what I am trying to say, let me ask it this way -- How do we know when He is not just sitting in the chair next to us, but is in the room with a "job to do?" A goal in mind? A purpose which He is bound and determined to accomplish?

Am I making mud?

Aren't there times when we KNOW that He is "in the house" and something great is about to happen? How do we know? What is the evidence?

Our youth at church had a rally this weekend called "JesusQuest." I was blessed to be able to attend the Saturday evening concert and talk. A musical group, Portal, and a "strongman" made up the worship team for the evening. They came back the next day and were the centerpiece of both services. It was all wonderful, but it wasn't the center of what happened. God spent the weekend at our church, and He had a mission in mind. How do I know? I can't get past the evidence (That's a song title if I've ever heard one -- it's sung by 4Him -- and it's been my brainworm all morning).

'Cause I can't get past the evidence,

I can't get past the proof.

I can't get past the evidence,

It's impossible to do.

• Our youth spontaneously stood on the street corner between dinner and the concert waving signs advertising the concert (which was free) and asking people to "Honk if you love Jesus" and then saying, "He would surely honk for you."
• On an Emmaus walk, one is asked to not 'anticipate.' I never really understood that until Saturday night. I'm a decently smart cookie, and I could watch Big Steve bend his nails (which looked like spikes) and play with his deck of cards, guessing at the message he was teaching before he would say it. Until he took a 4 foot piece of straight steel and twisted it into a curlicue kind of shape. He took another one -- 16 inches long -- and bent it into a U. He then held them up and said, "You (holding up the U) need to be fishers of men." He held up the longer, twisted piece -- it was a fish. I hadn't anticipated that, and it floored me. Whap. Why hadn't I seen that coming?

You broke into this world of mine,
You stole my heart, you robbed me blind,
While I wasn't looking at all.
Without a warning or a sign,
It seems you caught me by surprise.

• I mentioned yesterday that when Portal was singing in the early service, I just knew that the day was going to be an encounter with God.
• I had told a friend earlier that week that God was going to walk into the room on Sunday morning with the children (who started out the service prior to the youth portion). Those kids didn't walk in -- they marched in to the tune "Lord of the Dance." It was an unplanned reminder to the congregation that the God that they encountered on Easter through Handel's Hallelujah Chorus was also the God of the Dance.

Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He!

• The music in the second worship service was loud and lively. The youth were dancing in the aisle (This doesn't seem like a big deal unless you know our church -- we just don't dance in the aisle. We barely sway to a hymn.) Youth will do things like that. Then the congregation joined them -- arm in arm, dancing in the aisle.
• I just don't know if one could have been in the service and not felt the joy -- the presence of God was everywhere. The walls shook with it. The balloons bounced through the air carrying love from one person to the next. It was almost palpable.

They cut me down but I leapt up high
I am the Life that will never never die!
I'll live in you if you'll live in Me
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!

• My mother came into Sunday school that morning not having a very good day physically. Her back, which has been bothering her for about a year, was acting up. I only needed to see her walk a few feet to know it wasn't a good day. We were in the service, and Portal started singing their first song -- I wish I knew the name of it, but it was the one with clapping (duh -- they almost all had clapping) but with a quick tempo three-clap sequence spaced into it. The arthritis in her hands was going strong, and it was hurting her to clap. She told me at lunch later that day that she prayed on the spot for the pain to go away. It did. Her back stopped hurting; her hands stopped hurting. It wasn't healing, but it was respite. It was God saying, "I know you hurt, and I know how awful it is. Right now, for this hour, you and I are going to play." It was evidence of His presence, and she knew it. And I could see it on her face.
• We weren't the only ones who felt it. From what Big Steve said as he finished his part, I think he could feel it. Toni, the lead singer for Portal, was talking to S and I after the service. She could feel it.

Why is this important to me? Why do I want to line up the proof?

We are a traditional congregation on the edge of revival. I think one of the hardest parts of the rebirth of this church is going to be convincing the members of the congregation that God is in their midst. They (we) say that He is, but I so very much want them (us) to KNOW that He is. I want the evidence to be irrefutable.

Look for pieces on the way,
To fix the puzzle of this place
Is there an equation to life?
But in the midst of every day,
There's a clue, there is a trace.

'Cause I can't get past the evidence,
I can't get past the proof.
I can't get past the evidence,
It's impossible to do.

Beyond the shadow of a doubt,
I see the new life.
I'm a victim of a love I can't deny,
I'll be the first to testify,
That I can't get past the evidence of you.