MikePeercy.com

I learned something over the weekend.

God seems to drop stuff on me when I least expect it. It’s like His Spirit comes up behind me and leans over my shoulder to whisper in my ear. He points His finger at something going on in my life like one of those tele-strator things that the sports analysts use to point out and teach through what is happening on the screen.

On the screen I saw one of my favorite occasions. It was the gathering with our church family that we call “Praise in the Park.”

(There are few things in the routine of church life that I look forward to as much as this event. It’s one of those times when we actually manage to get people together for more than an hour or two.)

But God used a friend to point out how pitiful I was. I had a great time and enjoyed it immensely. But I was missing something.

[For those of you with no tolerance for over-dependent people, you’re reading the wrong blog.]

My wife was gone for the weekend. It wasn’t a big deal, really. I was doing very well by my standards.

But as I looked at the scene played back in front of me, the whispering in my ear helped me see a dangerous reality.

“I’m missing.”

The realization thundered through my heart. As much as it seemed like I was fine to the casual observer, the fact is that my best friend – my partner, my anchor – was not there and it affected me.

Again, the whisper, “I’m missing.”

Too many times I have gone into my day with much ministry work to do without spending time alone with my Father.  And while I go on about my responsibilities, the truth is that someone is missing.  It is His presence.

When I fail to spend time and attention with God, I begin to experience that emptiness.  And because I don’t have the sensitivity to hear it then, this weekend He spoke what I am so often unable or unwilling to hear.

“I’m missing.”

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

Psalm 27.8