"Velvet Elvis"-DAY SEVEN

I am now reading Chapter Three of "Velvet Elvis" (Movement Three-True)

Chapter Three starts with author Rob Bell describing times when he's been in awe of God. They've ranged from the extraordinary times (the birth of his son), ordinary times (attending a U2 concert when he was 16), and in the low points of life (seeing the compassion of a person caring for a dying friend).

I could relate to everything Bell was saying. I remember those times in my life when I was in awe of God.

I remember standing on a beach in Charlevoix, Michigan watching a sunset over Lake Michigan.

I remember how I couldn't stop crying when my first son was born.

There was that time just a couple of days ago when my wife and I were cleaning the house. My son came up to us, put one of his arms around each one of our legs and said, "MOMMY!!! DADDY!!" It made my wife want to cry.

I must confess that I had a really hard time thinking about experiencing the awe of God in a low point, but something came to mind today. I remember when a woman everyone called "Mom Rogers" passed away unexpectedly. I sat there during the funeral crying my eyes out. This was a woman I loved and respected, and it was hard to think that she was gone. During the service, they gave people a chance to stand and share some memories. I got up there and told a story about her, and as I finished my story, I could smile because I knew that someday I was going to see her again. That gave me hope.

Check out what Bell says about God's presence:

"According to the ancient Jewish worldview, God is not somewhere else. God is right here. It is God's world and God made it and God owns it and God is present everywhere in it."

"I've heard people tell stories about something powerful that happened and then at the end of the story say, 'And then God showed up!' As if God were somewhere else and then decided to intervene. But God is always present. We're the ones who show up."

Bell goes on to say that if the world is God's and everything in it (Psalm 24:1), then truth (God's truth) can be found in anything. Believe it or not, someone who doesn't even believe in the one true God can say something that can be claimed as God's truth!!

Bell talks about how Paul did this in the book of Acts:

"He (Paul) is...trying to explain to a group of people who believe in hundreds of thousands of gods that there is really only one God who made everything and everybody. At one point he's talking about how God made us all, and he says to them, 'As some of your own poets have said, we are his offspring.' He quotes their own poets. And their poets don't even believe in the God he's talking about. They were talking about some other god and how we are all the offspring of that god, and Paul takes their statement and makes it about his God. Amazing."

This actually reminded me of when I used to go to Granger Community Church. One Sunday, the message was actually about how one can find God's truth in the strangest places! One of the examples they used was the song "Dead Man's Rope" by Sting...who is a Buddhist.

Check out some of the lyrics:

If you're walking to escape, to escape from your affliction
You'd be walking in a great circle, a circle of addiction
Did you ever wonder what you'd been carrying since the world was black?
You see yourself in a looking glass with a tombstone on your back

Walk away in emptiness, walk away in sorrow,
Walk away from yesterday, walk away tomorrow,
Walk away in anger, walk away in pain
Walk away from life itself, walk into the rain

All this wandering has led me to this place
Inside the well of my memory, sweet rain of forgiveness
I'm just hanging here in space

Now I'm suspended between my darkest fears and dearest hope
Yes I've been walking, now I'm hanging from a dead man's rope
With Hell below me, and Heaven in the sky above
I've been walking, I've been walking away from Jesus' love

Chapter Three...to be continued. Thanks for reading!