Engaged

Our pastor was teaching a series called “Rules of Engagement.” Zane, my 10-year-old son, was drawing. I tapped his shoulder and gave him the pay-attention look. “But I’m not engaged,” he said –  Zane thought the series was about marriage!

Don’t think marriage when I say Get Engaged – think these impalas: motionless, horns locked, eyes focused. Even our safari failed to divert their attention. Watching them triggered a thought:  God wants us engaged and enthusiastic in our pursuit of his presence. The way life rushes at us, it is too easy to be unengaged – ignoring or overlooking God’s hand in our lives. Each moment we live has the potential to be a divine moment – a treasure trove of fresh insights, fear-busters and faith-builders. The unengaged  fail to mine this wealth, flippantly discarding these divine moments like so much dross.

How can you get engaged? What does it take to not miss these divine moments?

Learn to spot these moments. Don’t expect  the sky to light up like a 4th of July celebration. Elijah expected to find God in the earthquake and strong wind but God surprised him by showing up in the softness of a whisper  (1 Kings 19:11-13). Don’t play God – let Him pick the moments … just be ready when He does!

Choose to join these moments.  Saul, in the grip of fear, chose to sit out the battle under a pomegranate tree. His son Jonathan chose to cross over to the Philistine garrison and take the battle to them (1 Samuel 14). Fear cheated Saul out of a divine moment.  Courage placed Jonathan in the thick of a divine moment as it began to unfold. Decide on the front end to get engaged.

 Step into the moment. You cannot follow God in neutral. Shove your life into gear – divine moments demand action. From the sideline these moments look so ordinary – not until you step into them does the extraordinary unveil itself.

When you Get Engaged the extraordinary becomes ordinary – each moment ripe with divine potential.  Don’t waste your life cowering under a pomegranate tree! Step up and prepare to witness the divine moment unfold. Make the extraordinary ordinary in your life.

Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”  1 Kings 19:11 MSG