One struggle I had over the weekend was adjusting to the three hour time difference. Every morning I awoke bright an early, hours before my native Arizonian friends and each evening at around 8 p.m. my personality turned into a pumpkin.
One advantage of my early rising was that I was able to take long walks alone, since God and I were the only ones up at that hour. One particular morning the path I was walking along sidled up to a ridge that overlooked deep valley of pine and cedar. As I rounded the corner near this valley, the sun was just rising over the peaks behind me, cascading light down to the expanse below. Being the astute observer of all things beautiful that I am, I decided this was a perfect photo opp.
Unfortunately I only had my cell phone camera with me and while it is the best cell phone camera on the market, with a half eaten piece of fruit on the back, it still fell short in doing the amazing surroundings I was witnessing justice. No matter how many pictures I frantically snapped, none seemed to upturn the frown of dissatisfaction on my face. As I looked back and forth from the viewfinder to the actual picture laid out in front of me, I was disappointed in the lack of depth, texture and vibrance of the scene I was viewing compared to the pictures I was taking.
I wondered what descriptive words I would need to fill in the gaps that my present technology had stopped short of. How enthusiastic would I need to be in order to convince the viewer of my pathetic photos that this was one of the most majestic scenes I had ever experienced. Would my ranting only serve to prove how elusive my grip on sanity was becoming? How could I garner anything but an apathetic response to my two dimensional, ill-colored portraits?
It was at that moment that I wished I could bring them (whomever "them" may be) along side me. I wished that I was not alone at that moment and I wished I did not have to rely on inadequate equipment to paint a picture of what I was experiencing.
How often are our experiences with God like this? Amazing, yes. Breathtaking, yes. But you often find yourself alone, and unprepared for them. So many times I have left experiences such as this like a raving lunatic, attempting to convert anyone in my path to my way of thinking for fear that the emotional high of my experience would quickly fade and be lost forever.
What if instead of attempting to snap an accurate picture of God and run from person to person, I calmly and slowly took them by the hand and walked them along the path so that they could experience God for themselves. Void of preconceived notions, prejudices and predetermined ideas.
Kind of scary to think about but what if I didn't need to be the one to bring God to the people?What if I just let God be God and I just pointed them down the proper path towards discovery of Him?
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