No boundaries

This morning I had a chance to meet up with an old friend.  He's the kind of friend that you can almost forget about for a while and then when you meet up again - it appears that you didn't miss a thing.  I just listened this morning.  I didn't try to give any input or import my agenda into his words - I just listened, and here's what I heard. 

After a considerable amount of time something that he said jumped out at me.  He said in a round about way that God isn't affected by boundaries.  The actual phrase he used was more like, "The most high doesn't live in houses built by human hands." (Acts 7:48)  These words were part of his defense for the charges against him.  He was being charged with a form of treason, but interestingly enough he didn't sound scared.  He knew something that the other people didn't know.  He knew a peace like no other.  Perhaps he knew that no matter what happened, God worked outside of the boundaries we set up.  God would do something big no matter the outcome of this trial. 

Is your God big enough?  Is he big enough to give you peace when your job is in question?  Is he big enough to help you through that project that you're not sure if you'll finish in time?  Is he big enough to beat your depression?  Is he big enough come to your rescue no matter the time of day or night? 

I've got this funny feeling that most of us have limited God in many ways.  We like the early church need reminders that God isn't bound to the building.  As a matter of fact he's not bound by anything!  Just think for a moment about all of the things you have to do today and the rest of the week.  Know that in all of that your God is walking right beside you.  He's not going to make things easy all of the time.  He's not going to take away the struggles.  But you better believe that he's going to walk with you through it all. 

I close today with the blessing we end our services with on Sundays: May God go before us to blaze a trail for us, behind us to clean up the mess we make of life, beside us as our friend and companion through life's journeys, beneath us to give us a sure footing, and above us to protect us and to shower his blessings upon us.  Amen.