God's Omnipresence

A couple of weeks ago I had a great reminder of how thankful I am that our God is not only omniscient (all knowing) and omnipotent (all powerful), but omnipresent (everywhere at once!).

John and the kids were going to scale the heights of Pikes Peak. Because this would be the kids' first attempt at a fourteener (a mountain over 14,000 ft high), John chose to hike the back side of the mountain, which he had heard was shorter and easier. He also decided that I should drive up and pick them up, rather than making them all hike back down as well.

Our car is currently an old 15 passenger van. I hate driving this massive thing and parking it is especially trying for me. (But it has encouraged my prayer life!) If you've ever driven the Pikes Peak highway you'll remember a lovely drive with breathtaking views. You'll probably also remember the tight switchbacks past timberline, oh, and the lack of guardrails. (T-shirts sold at the top proclaim that real men/women don't need guardrails!)

I left my family and said several prayers on their behalf as God and I had a lovely morning together. Then I began my drive up. As I hit that area around timberline and crawled along at 5 mph or so, letting cars pass me every so often, I began to have moments of near terror. Now this was my second drive up, but somehow I had forgotten what this road was like. I would travel up the "hill" to the next curve where, from my vantage point high in my driver's seat, I could see.......sky, not much else. Then the curve and I could breathe only to reach the next one.

I was asking for peace and the Lord's presence. I was asking him to have complete control of the wheel and the van. Extra gravity please, right under me to keep my wheels firmly on the road! (Not that he didn't have control all along.) I was also still asking him to be with my family on the other side of the mountain. NO accidents or injuries, please.

Then it hit me- again. What if God were, well, more like the gods of some folks? What if he could only be with me OR my family? Wow...again! He's not like that though, is he? He could be with us all that whole day. He could be with the rest of my team, my dad who is recovering from surgery, my friends in China, and all the folks we've yet to meet in Verona. At the same time! Isn't that wonderful! And amazing!

I've loved Psalm 139 for a long time. It is one of the things I have tried to help my kids memorize. For those of us who have lived far from our family, friends, and familiar things it is comforting. "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely, the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." (vs.7-12)

We were all fine that day. God kept me on the road (extra gravity?!)and I reached the top. I had to wait a long time for my hikers. They had a harder trail than they had anticipated. But we all made it. God, our great and mighty God, was with us all.