Greetings:

Well, it is Summer, days are longer, it is unbearably hot and smoky, there are bugs everywhere, the air conditioning is on max, and for the first time in memory I am ready for winter.  Early evenings, temperature I can control with coats, no smoke, no out of state tourists, no voracious bugs, no feeling that I am missing summer if I am not outside every minute. 

I think most of all I would like a new season to my spiritual life.  In all the noise of summer I lost track of who I served and with all the old problems, all the new problems, all the kids’ problems, the work problems, and the church problems, I was too busy worrying and I lost track of what was really important. 

Several years ago, when a service at Clark’s Park was cancelled because of the weather, Pastor Matt invited the congregation to take an active part in the service, asking us to share where we saw Jesus in our day-to-day experience recently.   Various members shared where they had seen Jesus and the members of the congregation who were present heard some incredible stories about where members had experienced Jesus’s presence this summer.   It was an amazing, blessed experience.

Afterwards I was thinking about the members and the stories we heard, and then I wondered about the members who were present who did not share an experience where they saw Jesus recently.  Some members I know are afraid to speak in crowds, and some I know have been going through tough times, but what about the rest?  So, then I wondered, how often do we miss seeing Jesus in our day to day lives because we simply aren’t looking for his presence?  We miss him because we are so busy with the mundane, we don’t have time to look for the miraculous, and how sad is that?

I have been sick at the time of this writing for over 3 weeks, and I am afraid that I missed everything of beauty around me because I couldn’t focus on anything but my own misery.  This week I am resolved to take the time to look around and see where Jesus is, to see what he is doing, and to jump in and help, or reflect, or give, or work, or witness, or worship.   Because I know when I don’t see him, when I don’t feel his presence, that not only is he still present, but that I am the one missing out.   So, let us all start a new spiritual season, remember to look around and focus on what is truly important, confident that if we do so we will see his face.  Amen.

Brad Belke