Finding God On The Apache Trail

"Honor the Lord for the glory of His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare. In his temple, everyone shouts, 'Glory!' the Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as king forever. The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace." ~ Psalm 29:1-11

Sometimes – many times – God sneaks up on us. I think it's because:

1. We aren't God. God exists without a watch or a calendar; God has a different view from ours. He can see our tomorrow, our today and our yesterday; and God can be everywhere at the same time, and He is the King – the Lord – over everything. We are just a wisp of air.
2. We are so distracted and so busy that we often aren’t looking for God or expecting to see Him. We are over-worried about what’s for dinner, or the next thing on the calendar, or how much money is in the bank account. We are so focused on the temporary that we can't see the eternal. We have a limited brain capacity and often reserve none of that for God.

This past week I was in Phoenix, serving churches there. I was speaking all day Thursday for a group of city-wide church leaders. Back in the late 1980s, my brother Tim was stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, and I made a handful of trips out there to visit him. I fell in love with the Arizona desert, borrowing Tim’s Trans Am and driving out into the desert. I drove off the main roads and into places where they have signs warning you to have plenty of food and water.

So, going to Phoenix this week, I scheduled the trip so I could be there as early as possible on Wednesday, providing all afternoon to drive in the desert, windows down, and classic rock and roll blaring. And, I specifically wanted to drive the 33-mile Apache Trail, which is actually State Highway 88 from the small town of Apache Junction to Roosevelt Dam.

But, let me back up just a minute. My flight on Wednesday morning began in Charlotte. I am on a quest this year to read 25 books and to read 200 over the next eight years. On this flight, I was finishing up former Yankee Bobby Richardson’s book, Impact Player, and so – at the Charlotte airport – I stepped into a bookstore to find something to start reading. I have been trying, rarely successful, to rotate my reading among biographies, fiction and books to improve my faith journey. In the Charlotte airport book store, I was looking through the fiction books when I noticed a section of inspirational books. It was there that I picked up Paul Stutzman’s true story – Hiking Through. Stutzman, a restaurant manager, lost his wife, Mary, to breast cancer, and overcome with grief, quit his job to hike through the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Having hiked most of the trial in Georgia, during my younger days, I bought the book.

On the flight to Phoenix, I finished Richardson’s great baseball biography, and began Stutzman’s book, which I quickly realized was a fantastic story of being out in the wilderness, grieving over life’s greatest setback, and asking questions of Almighty God. I won’t give the book away, but Stutzman’s book is as good a book about an everyday man's faith journey as I have ever read. It is a great adventure story of  man v. wilderness, but it's also fascinating to be with Stutzman as the trail journey mirrors his faith journey. In the middle of nature, he becomes broken before Almighty God and responds to God's calling. Why did I enjoy Stutzman's story so much? Because he could be me and most everyone I know.

And, so it was while reading Stutzman's book that I drove from Phoenix to Apache Junction to drive the Apache Trail. The Apache Trail is a 33-mile road – State Highway 88. It was first a trail used by the Apache tribe to cross the Superstition Mountains, and then it was a stagecoach road for the same purpose. The first 11 miles of the trail are paved though not very well maintained. These miles pass by some pull-outs for tourist views of the desert, the mountains and a few reservoirs. The paved section of the trail ends at a roadhouse / restaurant / gift shop called Tortilla Flat. You can see Tortilla Flat as you approach it because there’s a mannequin hung by a noose from a gallows built on the top of the building. (It's pretty cool).

Many travelers get to Tortilla Flat, buy a souvenir, have a drink, and then go back to Apache Junction. But, you can go further on a 22-mile drive to Roosevelt Dam, which at the time of its construction was the largest block dam in the country (so sayeth a sign there). That 22-mile leg of the Apache Trail is all dirt road. The roads are narrow with one-lane bridges, no cell service, and extreme mountain driving with no or limited guard rails. Along the trail you cross many areas with warning signs of flash flooding as in "don't drive through here if you see water." As a note, many RV rental companies do not permit their vehicles to use the Apache Trail. There’s also the customary warning to have plenty of water.

And, so, off I went in my small rental SUV.

Words can’t describe that drive. I drove until there were no power lines and my iPhone lost all of its service. My sophisticated telephone even stopped searching for service. Deeper and deeper I drove into the desert, thinking about Paul Stutzman on the Appalachian Trail and searching for God there. At one point on his walk through the wildnerness, Stutzman had one of his many God moments. He asked himself, "Why am I hurrying to finish this long walk? Shouldn't I stop occasionally and marvel at awesome God?"

Shouldn't we ask that of ourselves? Why are we rushing through this life of ours? Why aren't we spending more time with the ones we love? Why aren't we spending more time doing for others? Why aren't we stopping to be still and reflect on the glory of Almighty God all around us?

And, as I drove the Apache Trail, I thought the same thing: Why I am hurrying to finish this scenic drive? Why don't I stop along the way and just experience God?

My GPS wasn’t working, but I estimated by the odometer that I was about 20 miles into the Apache Trail. As I came up and around a cliff, I pulled up to the top of a mountain and there was a pullout. So, I eased the SUV into the pullout, turned off the ignition (praying it would restart) and then got out and climbed on the hood of the vehicle to sit.

It was the great expanse of the desert that first got to me – it just caused me to exhale. As David wrote of God's glory in Psalm 29, all I could think to say was, "Glory, Glory."

But, it was the quiet that really got to me. There was no sound except what little the wind made. With no trees to stir, the wind was more felt than heard and I felt as though it were the hands of God reaching out to me. No birds. No cars. No noise or racket. Just the deafening quiet. And, I got the feeling that the only two living things at the moment were me and God. I came to the realization that God was using Stutzman's book to prepare me for this time of worship. And, I pulled out a pen and paper to make a few notes, seeing it as opportunity for a tune-up of my life.

1. I will take time to get away, by myself, and be still before the Lord – away from people, away from the noise and the clatter, even if for just a few hours – I will get away by myself, leave the cell phone at home, tell no one where I am going, and simply rest in the arms of the Lord. He wants it and I need it. And, I need it more often.
2. I will invest more time with my Vicki – just with her – even if it’s just watching television with her. I won’t let the boys and all their business get between me and the one whom God chose for me - the one God chose for a relationship set apart from all others. I will put off all other relationships and ministry to them in order to have more time to spend with my Vicki. There will be a day when one of us will go on without the other. I want to cherish these days more often.
3. I will make sure the boys know that I love them – not by spending time with them, not by spending money on them, not by ensuring they are happy – but by listening to them, hearing them and encouraging them even if what they say makes no sense to me. I will be their champion; not the uninvited “fixer” of their problems.
4. I will be a better friend. I will work harder to stay close to my friends who are hurting; I know I’m not qualified to provide all the answers they need, but I can ensure they know that I will be on life's journey with them.
5. I will be unashamed of the Gospel – willing to talk about Jesus at any time to any person regardless of the circumstance. I was reminded that I can’t save anyone, I can’t make anyone accept Jesus as their Savior, but I have a responsibility to make the introduction – to say to people, “Here is my friend, Jesus, and I would like for you to meet Him, and I would like to tell you why He is my friend.”

There’s a feeling of accomplishment when you drive out of the desert and see Roosvelt Dam. It’s not the same as completing the Appalachian Trail, but you are glad you made it without need of a search and rescue.

God snuck up on me last week, introducing me to a book that slowed me down to hear from God in the Arizona desert.

Chasing Jesus is life-changing

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." - Matthew 16:24.

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?

Followers of Jesus choose to pursue Him. Followers of Jesus can look at today, compare it to the same day last year, and say, “Yes, I am closer to Jesus and I am more like Jesus today than I was on this day last year.” There is an assurance of that.

You see, the word following implies forward movement; it implies a pursuit or chasing after Jesus. And, so it stands to reason that if I am following Jesus, I will be on a forward-moving journey with Him, and in that journey I will become more like Him, and my today will not be the same as my yesterday.

I’ll go so far as to say those who today are no closer to Jesus than last year, well, they aren’t really following Jesus at all. More than likely, these good people are simply church Christians who believe church attendance, church busyness and participation in church stuff is synonymous with following Jesus. Churchyness (my word) can contribute to the spiritual journey of following Jesus, but for many it does not. Churchyness is largely a clinical exercise to meet cultural expectation: I want people to know I am associated with a church so they will believe that I am a good person. If I were Satan, I would love, love, love people to buy into that theology.

Look at what the prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 51:1: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn.” We are called to “pursue” and to “seek” Jesus; we are called to be moving forward in our faith journey. We are called to be followers.

In Philippians 3:12-16, Paul writes, “but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” and “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Paul says we are to be moving forward, following Jesus, “pressing on” and “straining toward.” Am I? Are you? Is your today significantly more close to Jesus than your yesterday? Ask your spouse. Ask your parents. Ask your friends.

It’s all easier said than done, frankly, because we live in a broken and sinful world, and because we are broken and sinful people. But, that does not excuse us from being on the journey. In fact, we are guaranteed the journey will be hard and also that few will actually choose to take this narrow way. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

At this writing, Vicki has me on a diet. To be on that diet requires life changes on my part and a diligent moving forward. I am on a journey. At the end, I will be different than I am today. But, along the way, I will face temptation and may even slip backward. In fact, unless I am diligent and focused, I will choose to fail. And, then I will no longer be able to say that I am on a diet at all. I can “watch what I eat” and lie about being on a diet, but I know that I won’t really be on a diet at all. On the other hand, I might stumble on the diet, regroup and begin the journey again. Even though I have slipped, I can still claim to be on the diet because I am continuing to move forward.

So often, the faith journey - following Jesus - is a two steps forward and one step backward journey, but it is still about making that one step of progress. It's always about moving forward and being more like Jesus.

Life is constantly calling us backward to the easy, to the comfortable, to the “be like everyone else” and if you and I succumb to that, we will never be able to follow Jesus. Nothing about that cross is easy or comfortable or like “everyone else."

In summary:

Following Jesus is about saying:

1. My life is better, more peaceful, more joyful and more hopeful when I set my eyes on Jesus and decide to follow Him.
2. By following Jesus, what I really mean is that I will respect Him as my leader, and pursue Him. He is in front of me, and I will chase Him and pursue Him toward a goal of being more like Him. What does that mean? I will intentionally choose to (a) completely love people – all people – not just in words, but in deeds; (b) extend undeserved forgiveness to people; (c) see beyond the surface attitudes of people to understand the motivations, and then minister to them; and (d) I will build relationships with all people – all people – and help them discover joy, peace and hope that’s only found in Jesus Christ. I will call others to pursue Jesus and pray to see them baptized according to Matthew 28:19.

And, I know that I as I draw close to Jesus, and as I follow Him, it will be very difficult to maintain the pursuit.

1. People won’t understand. They will raise an eyebrow, and I can expect following Jesus to reshuffle the deck of my relationships. I will gain new friends; I will lose old friends. It will be joyful and painful all at the same time. In the end, though, it will be peaceful.
2. I can expect following Jesus to cost me something. It might cost me a job. It might cost me position. It might cost me time and money. Jesus' sacrifice on that cross was costly to Him; following Him and becoming like Him will absolutely cost me. There is no cheap grace; only a costly, expensive grace. That's why it's the narrow way and few really choose it.
3. As the white hot light of the cross burns my sinful nature, the pressure of it all will cause me to retreat into the darkness of my sinful nature. And, I will find myself in a sorrowful place because my retreat will grieve the Holy Spirit within me. And, I can expect Jesus to find me and ask, “Scott, what are you doing? Are you a believer or not? In or out? Let’s get back on the journey.” And, I will decide to follow or not.

What I have learned about following my Jesus:

1. I must be intentional about it. The world is calling me away from Jesus; following Him requires my absolute focus and best effort.
2. I must allow the Holy Spirit to place me around people – even people that make me feel uncomfortable - for encouragement and correction; love and service. 
3. I must look beyond what I want and see what others need. And, then I must respond the best that I can. And, where I can't respond, I will mobilize others to respond.
4. The call on my life is not to be perfect; the call of my life is to simply focus my life on being more Christ-like and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts, actions and my attitudes.
5. I must anchor my life in Scripture and prayer.
6. The world will notice, my family will notice, my friends will notice, and following Jesus will tighten some of my relations and loosen others. Following Jesus comes with a cost, but it is a cost worth paying.
7. I only understand a fraction of all this, but I understand all that I need to know. I need Jesus, others need Jesus, and it is my responsibility to follow Jesus – to work to be more like him – each and every day of my life so that others can see and know Jesus because of His reflection on me.
8. If my today is not closer to Jesus that my yesterday, I am not following Jesus at all.

Being attractive

There is one thing of which I am certain:

No one wants to be around someone who is unattractive, thereby leaving the unattractive all alone a great deal of the time. Someone who is perpetually alone isn’t building healthy relationships with others, and therefore is failing to introduce people to Jesus. And, each of us is commanded to help people discover Jesus as Savior. (Matthew 28:19).

Are you attractive or unattractive? That’s the question.

And, it has little to do with beauty though Satan would have us believe that beauty and attractiveness are synonymous. Satan would also have us think this is all a women's issue, but it is not.

Beauty is only skin deep.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
And, I like this one: Beauty doesn’t matter after 50 because you will either be overweight in some degree or thin and wrinkled – choose one and be happy with it. (Personally, the overweight seem more healthy and fun to me, but then again I am one of them. J)

Beauty is a characteristic that is based on a perceptual experience. That’s why we all see beauty differently. It’s why someone decorates their home and says, “Wow, this is beautiful” and then someone like me comes in and says, “Wow, what were they thinking?” Beauty is subjective.

Unfortunately, we assign beauty to being Godly, and it’s not. Beauty is of this world. When 81 percent of 10 year old boys and girls say they are afraid of being fat because it makes them ugly – that’s a problem. That statistic alone speaks to a world more focused on being superficially beautiful than being inwardly attractive to others.Being attractive is so much deeper than beauty. Attractiveness is a quality that stirs an interest in someone else.

I know a lot of people who are attractive, but the world doesn’t necessarily see them as beautiful.
I know a lot of people who the world calls beautiful, but those people aren’t very attractive.
I know a lot of people who bloom beautiful *because* they are first very attractive.
I know a lot of people who are so very unattractive that their beauty has faded into ugliness.

Beauty is fading, fleeting and a distraction to what is really important. We need to focus on being attractive to others and let beauty, on occasion, bloom from that if it will. People will migrate toward people who are attractive; people will be repelled by those who are unattractive. People want to be around the kind, the encouraging, the serving, the loving, and the positive-thinking. People don’t want to be around the self-focused, the bitter, the negative, the superficial, and the lazy. Lonely and without friends? How attractive are your attitudes?

And, I know, we all have moments of being unattractive. We all do; none of us is spared. I know that. But, we have to be working toward an attractive attitude.

So, how do we cultivate and sustain this attractiveness – what I’m calling an attractive spirit. And, why is it important for followers of Jesus? Here’s why – you and I are commanded – not encouraged or invited or asked – but commanded to make disciples, to see people baptized, and to be expressive about Jesus. Well, who has the more authentic opportunity to reflect Jesus? The attractive or the unattractive? If my life is so self-absorbed that I am no longer attractive, what effect does that have on my ability to build relationships with people and tell them about Jesus? It has a huge effect. The more I’m focused on me, the more addicted I am on me, the more unattractive that is to others, and the less chance I have to tell others about Jesus.

A rotten spirit of attractiveness destroys our opportunity to help others find Jesus.

So, here are some things that I found in Scripture this week to help us focus on being more attractive for the purpose of building relationship and sharing Jesus. And, while Scripture sometimes puts these in the context of women, I think we men must pay attention to them, too. You will see what I mean.

1. We must be a follower of Jesus. And, look what happens in 1 Peter 3:1-4 – “. . . your Godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives. Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” Your Godly lives – that implies that we must be in fellowship with God through faith in Jesus. People are attracted to those who have an inner peace about their lives and where they are in life.
2. This 1 Peter Scripture passage also points to being “gentle and having a quiet spirit.” My daddy has that gentle spirit – and I try to be like him in this regard. A few years ago, we were at the movies, and I turned around and he wasn’t there. Then, I saw him. He was on the sidewalk, helping a little boy who had spilled his M&Ms, and I heard him say, “If dirt would kill us, we’d all be dead.” He is quietly gentle toward others, and possesses a quiet and loving touch on someone’s life. People are attracted to the kind of person who lives unassuming.
3. Psalm 29:2: “Honor the Lord for the glory of His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.” Being holy is attractive. What is holy? It’s about being “set apart” – if the world is busy, busy and materialistic and flashy, then holiness – set apart – is the antithesis of that. People in this culture are attracted to those who live a simple, uncomplicated, authentic and down-to-Earth life because it gives people hope that they can live that way too and in so doing everything will be just fine.
4. Ephesians 5:21: Paul writes about the relationship of husbands and wives and says, “Further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Marriages are attractive when husbands and wives submit to one another. I know that when I submit to Vicki it becomes learned behavior that allows me to submit to the best for others, too. I love my Vicki so much that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. If she says, “Scott, go with me to counseling,” I’m going. If she says, “Scott, it sure helps if you will do the laundry” then, I’m doing the laundry.” If she says, “Scott, you need to lose some weight” then I’ll make a run at it. Why? I submit to her because I love her more than I love myself. But, I also have confidence that she’s only going to ask of me those things that will either make me a better person or make our marriage better. Neither of us is going to ask the other to do something through selfish motivation.Those kinds of marriages are attractive to others, give hope to others, and create environments through which faith can be shared.
5. Matthew 5:14-6: Jesus says that, “You are the light of the world . . . shine for the world to see. Let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” An attractive spirit does good work for others, and does it out there so people can see us get our hands dirty. It’s not about advertising it; it’s about getting out there among people and doing it. People will notice when you donate time to the good of the community and the good of others. And, it inspires others to do that, too. It inspires conversation that you can use to talk about Jesus. Every believer should be involved in the community in some way – hands and feet to real service. What does it say when only 15 percent of believers are actually involved in hands-on ministry or service? It says we don’t really believe what we claim to believe – and that’s not very attractive.
6. Last, Isaiah 3:16-26: The great prophet presents a metaphorical warning for those who subscribe to a superficial obsession with beauty. And, what we take from this is that it’s far better to live a life that is meek and humble, simple and encouraging, and gentle and quiet, focused on pursuing attractiveness for the sake of the Gospel – a life focused not so much on the mirror, but the window of opportunity to build relationship and share faith.

Lord, let me be attractive today. Let others fall in love with you because they see you reflected in everything that I do, say, and think today.

Confidence in God's power

I was born in that era when doctors gave injections to children rather than worrying over pills that might or might not be taken. And, I've had this lifelong bronchial - sinus thing that caused me to see a doctor a lot when I was a boy. And, the resulting injection of antibiotics was always administered in my butt cheek.

It was humiliating, especially when I got to the age of 7 or 8. It wasn't cool to drop your pants in front of a nurse you might see at church on Sunday. Forced to take a painful injection in the butt added insult to injury.

In the timeline of my life, one particular visit was in 1967. I was almost 8 years old. For months, I had protested receiving the injection in my rear-end, and my mama had assured me that 7 was the magic year in which I could switch from an injection in my hip to an injection in my arm. Thank the Lord.

So, on this particular visit in 1967, at almost 8 years old, I was confident that I would graduate from embarrassment to victory, and receive my injection of penicillin in the arm.

When we arrived at the doctor’s office, I was pleasantly surprised to see – in the waiting room – my Papa Paul – my mama’s daddy. He was there in his trademark white shirt and dark tie – a tall man who walked confidently and spoke authoritatively. To this day, I’m not sure why Papa Paul was at the doctor’s office that day.

But, on this day, I was so glad to see Papa Paul, and he was glad to see me. It gave me strength knowing he was there at the doctor's office, too. My mama began telling him about my ailment, and she continued telling him that I was anxious about getting a shot and mostly about pulling my pants down to receive the shot in the butt.They called him back to see the doctor ahead of me.

He was still back with the doctor when they called me, and mama and I began the slow walk back along the green and white tiled, sterile hallway to a room that smelled of antiseptic and cold metal. Dr. Jim made a quick assessment, told me I was going to get a shot, gave me a cherry Charms pop, and left the room. Soon, the nurse came into the room bearing the instrument of my humiliation. Okay, she said, pull your pants down.

I looked at my mama, and in slow motion, waited on her to rush to my defense. Finally, she half-heartedly said, “He would prefer to have the shot in his arm.” I was so disappointed; I expected my mama to be more forceful than that. And, the nurse dismissed her and said, “It will be better in his hip; pull your pants down son.” I took in a big breath of air, on the verge of tears, and then looked up.

My Papa Paul was standing in the door, and he said, “If that boy wants the shot in his arm, give him the shot in his arm.” For just a minute I thought my mama would protest, but the look the great man gave her reduced her to silence.The nurse looked at my Papa Paul. Tension hung in the air. I quickly buckled my pants and jerked my shirt over my head, thrusting my arm at her and looking away.

The nurse wanted to protest, but my Papa Paul just said, “Hurry up, I have other places to be.” I got my shot in the arm. I didn’t know my Papa Paul very well. He died within months of that experience, and it’s one of only a handful of memories that I can remember. But, I will never forget the swell of confidence that rushed through me, knowing that someone bigger, someone more powerful, someone with authority had stood in the door for me. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to know the confident power that comes from a support system.

That support system begins and ends with Almighty God, who is front of us and in our tomorrow, beside us and in our today, and behind us shielding us from the pain of yesterday.

"Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But, with God everything is possible." - Matthew 19:26.

God is not a human being. I once heard someone refer to a quarter moon as the "thumb nail of God." I've stared up at a quarter moon, imagining God's thumb nail as the moon and then grasping how God would literally fill the sky if that were true. And, then I remember that God is even larger and mightier and more sovereign than that.

God is heavy - not in a suffocating way - but in a thick and ever-present way. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't nap. He doesn't take a lunch break. He is everywhere in His fullness and all at the same time. He is all-knowing; he is even in the thoughts occurring in the deepest and darkness places of our minds. 

God is with us in our best and brightest moments. He is with us when we stumble and fall. And, He is with us when we are scared, lonely and worried over the future coming at us. God is powerful beyond our ability to comprehend it. Isaiah 40:22: "He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in."

Like a little boy, scared at the doctor's office over an injection and seeing his granddaddy there as powerful support, so is God there with us in everything. And, with God, everything is possible. Nothing that we face - as confident confessors of Jesus Christ - nothing that we face do we face alone. God is already in it, He is already with us, and He is already behind us. God's love, strength and power covers it.

Sure, I was still a sick little boy. I still had to go to the doctor's office. I still had to get a shot, but what an unbelievable feeling of confidence and peace to know someone big and forceful was in my corner. Over and over again, in Joshua 1, God says, "Be strong and courageous because I am with you!" And, in Isaiah 26:3-4, the prophet writes, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock."

Still don't get it? Read Psalm 136. In 26 verses, the Psalmist writes over and over, "God's faithful love endures forever." In those words, I see and feel the God who resurrected his son, Jesus, who had died for all of our sinfulness. In those words, I sense the hammer of God's power, the stomping of His feet as he rushes to our aid, and the jerking away of Satan's confusion that surround us. God never fails us. He never will.

But, as I bump into the pain of life – my own, my family's, and so many others, the thing that people are often missing is the confidence that God is with them. They will ask, "Where is God? Why isn’t God here? Why can’t I feel Him? Why can’t I have that confidence that He is in this storm with me?"

God is there. God is asking a question, too. As you and I ask, "Where is God?" God is asking, "Scott, where are you?" God is asking, "Scott, why can't you plow your life into Scripture and know me better? Why are you so easily blown about by the storms of life? Why can’t you take more seriously your prayer life – and if you don’t understand prayer, get around people who can teach you? Why are on the fringe of faith with others? Why are you so easily led by people who don't confess Jesus?

"Where am I? I am everywhere. Where are you, Scott, in pursuing me?" God will not make us choose Him. We make the choice.

If you are in a measure of pain or you are ministering to someone in pain, I want to encourage you to pursue God. Study your Bible. From one who studies the Bible every week for Sunday School, I can tell you that the more time you spend in Scripture, the more you will lean your life on Scripture. And, the more you lean on Scripture, the more the power of prayer will be revealed to you. God will send other believers into your life for the good times and the hard times. Scripture helps me recognize when God is sending people on His behalf. But, the choice is up to each of us - pursue God or not. Trust God or not. Walk confidently with God or not.

The closer I draw to God, the more I will confidently feel His awesome power and His peace in life's storm.