This morning I awoke very early. Too early. I did not want to be awake. I just lay there. And I decided to hang out with Him. With God. I spent some time praying. Some time meditating. But I began to think “who is God”. Not is He real? Or does He exist. Not even the where is He or why can’t I see Him. But who is He? I can list off His characteristics or describe His values. I can tell you who He says He is. (For instance I am that I am.) But then I came down to the “who am I”. Do I see God as a person looking more like me? (Why does He show up like that?) Or do I see Him as some enlivened mist? Meaning when He enters your room or the atmosphere, how is that happening? Needless to say I often end up with considerably more questions, embracing more mystery than “one who is supposed to know” perhaps ought to.

This morning, He was face to face. But then He somehow “moved” into my mind, my being, with His sweet presence.

And If I think of God dimensionally lots of things begin to change. (Dimensions are like snapshots of your Uncle Charlie. You might have one of Him fishing, entering the military and blowing out birthday candles. Yet they are all him. And if we are timeless they are all happening “simultaneously”.) That while you are in the “living room” God is in the “kitchen” and clearly at hand. Perhaps even in the living room whilst you are unaware.

Why ask and contemplate all these questions? I am glad you asked! Because explaining God takes less faith than believing in Him. Accepting His presence as a game changer is shown when while we think about God we are not worried about where He is or where we might be.

Yesterday I wrote, In the midst of all things…He is there. He is there. He is there in the midst of sickness, accidents and broken relationships. He is there. All of creation is in God. He is everywhere.

All of creation is in God?(Colossians 1:16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.)Wow! What do you do with that? Is He like some bubble or is He “in things”? Because if He is just some gigantic bubble holding all these things, then how could He say He loves? Or how would He participate? Folks, He is in ALL things. In the midst of your good, your bad and your ugly He is there. Add in that heaven is at hand and the tremendous working power of God and His majesty is at your side. Even in side.

Why is this so important? Because it is oh so easy to relegate God to a distant being, a vaporous mist who appears when we are good and disappears when we are not so good.

This morning God appeared to me as He often does. Face to face. Across the table. And while I am looking at Him my life is changing. My “atmosphere” or my present reality is somehow unexplainedly getting a “dose” of heaven. I can sense the changes. I can feel the changes. Peace overtakes the beginnings of any worry or anxiety, I might even begin to engage with.

All of this I am sharing to reach the one who needs comfort this morning. John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

There is comfort to you as He brings into remembrance the essence of His goodness. Did He show you to love? Did He teach you to praise? He will teach you peace. (Remember He brings not peace as the world understands but as a requiem of heaven.)To embrace rest. To make visible the dimensions and character of heaven that you might “live” there.

I know so many who are going through painful times. God is there in your midst. He has not left nor forsaken you. He is there. I know that because there is not one place He is not here on this earth.

On Sunday someone came and draped a flag over me. I thought this is how God is. His banner (flag) over me is love. His banner announces His character. His nature. His being.

For those of you needing comfort, allow Him to drape love over you today. To appear to you at the table. To hold you in His arms. Even to change the atmosphere of grief and mourning you may be faced with. When it feels like it just will not stop allow yourself to “move” to that dimension of peace, of comfort.

I am here to tell you that God is not far away as some might teach,but He is as close as the blood that pulses through your veins. His presence is present. May you be comforted today in your time of need.