Searching for God: Oh!

Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face. Psalm 105

My wife and I took a run up to Bellingham the other day. We didn’t have anything in particular we needed to find or get. We just wanted to get out of the house, and it was a nice enough day so that we could enjoy the scenic trip. We did have one unfamiliar destination in mind, and since we are likewise unfamiliar with the City of Subdued Excitement, I punched the destination into my phone’s GPS to ensure we’d get there.

Weather in western Washington is mild this time of year, so the Orange Cone season has already begun. They sprang up simultaneously with the local daffodils and will be with us until they blend in with the fallen leaves of autumn. Fortunately we only had a small stretch of freeway to contend with where two northbound lanes smooshed into one. 

Most people did a nice job of merging. I gave a “late-to-merge” driver space in which to pull in, but she refused the grace of the space I’d offered, choosing, instead, to exercise some form of NASCAR wig-wag (the ziggy, zaggy thing racers do to keep their tires hot when driving under Caution).

I just did an eye-roll and kept my focus on the road ahead. There are some people and situations for which Thoughts and Prayers are the only proper response for a person in my profession (keeping fingers tightly curled around the steering wheel).

The rest of our trip was uneventful. We missed the driveway to the store to which we’d been aiming, but that’s only because I was paying more attention to my GPS guide, and less to the actual world through which I was traveling. Hey, it happens. I have no doubt that I am more than six degrees separated from both Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett combined. Heck, I can even get lost in a good book!

A few weeks ago Barb and I flew back to Indiana for a family visit. I was sure glad to have GPS whenever we drove around the area as my sense of direction was always 180 degrees off. I thought north was south and east was west. Part of the problem was the lack of hills or mountains with which to help orient this visitor. 

We were in Amish country, so not only did I not know in what direction my nose was ever facing, I couldn’t always tell what century I was in, either, as I drove cautiously around all the horse-and-buggies amongst which we shared the roads.

It never bothers me to not know where I am or where I’m going. It is useful having a gadget to help me find my way around, but it was more helpful having our hosts do most of the driving. They knew where they were; they knew the roads and the routes and the best way to get places. When faced with the south end of northbound horses, they knew what rules to apply and how to safely avoid spooking the buggy-pullers.

The GPS gave me SOME comfort in my travels, but my hosts enabled me to relax; I knew I was safe and secure and in good hands. With them, I was able to focus less on the road and more on the world. Over the course of two weeks, I was able to find my bearings and get from one place to another whenever I struck out on my own, but I was most comfortable when I was in the hands of trusted friends. 

The psalmist invites us to “search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face.” 

We won’t find the face of God in the “great by-and-by in the sky way up high.” No, our task is to find the face of God in the people around us. The psalmist isn’t inviting us to go on a quest as much as he (or she) is inviting us to see our Lord in the faces of those with whom we share the road in our travels (yes, including zig-zaggers and sundry horse-drawn souls).

Perhaps we are called to look for AND to be the face of God wherever we are, for God is always with us here in this, our valley.

Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)