Blog #34 Walking with God

Walking with God Often throughout the centuries of our Christian history holy men and women have described their experience of faith as living in the presence of God. Their writings indicate that for them through faith God was near to them, and they were near to God. Genesis, chapter six, says of Noah: "he walked with God". To walk with God or to live in the presence of God, either for Noah or for the many other holy men and women who have had this experience did not require extraordinary manifestations of God's presence such as miracles and supernatural visions. Rather I would think the typical world around Noah looked the same for him as it did for the many around him, living in the same world, who did not walk with God, who were not good and blameless as Noah was. In the days of Francis of Assisi the sky was blue and clouds were grey through his eyes just as they were to the many ordinary and sinful persons living around him. His world was the normal world we all know, and yet in the midst of his human experience of living in the ordinary world he discovered God and knew God was with him. And he 'walked with God'. Not by miracles or supernatural visions but by simple faith both Noah and Francis and so many other holy men and women throughout the ages discovered God in their everyday world. They knew God as the source of all that is. They lived in the presence of God the Creator while touchng the natural created world around them For a moment imagine yourself in the morning of a beautiful day. The sky is blue and several white clouds are floating overhead. Do you think the sky is blue without the Lord? Do you think the clouds are white without the Lord? Certainly not. God is present in the blue, willing it to be blue. God is present in the clouds, willing them to clouds, and to be white. And through this experience of sky and clouds God is present to us personally as Creator and Father, our powerful beautiful God. God loves us in the sky and the clouds, extending through the world around us an invitation to walk with Him today. As our friends might make use of paper and pen to invite us to their homes for the celebration of a birthday, so God can use the sky, the earth, trees,our friends, shapes, color, sounds, and all that surrounds us to invite us into His home, to share His love and goodness, His power and generosity. When we see by faith the presence of God in the world around us and are willing to be good and generous, then, as Noah and Francis, we too can walk with God. It is by God's design and promise an everlasting joy!