How Is Your Daily Connection to God?

"Tell me what your daily connection to God looks like?"

That question felt like someone flicked on a giant spotlight as the crowd went silent in anticipation of the answer.  The perfect question to hold me accountable to the kind of life God has called me to live.

And like other accountability questions, there are days when an answer comes easily and days when beads of sweat begin to form and the answer is a struggle.

I was inspired as I heard a middle and high school student in our church answer this question by talking about reading the Bible, listening to music, "spoken word" poetry and prayer.  It was an encouraging reminder to me that God doesn't see this division of "sacred" and "secular" like we do.  Because God became flesh and dwelt among us, the light of God has shown in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

God is not compartmentalized into a worship service on Sundays, a weeklong mission trip or Vacation Bible School.  God is present in the everyday ordinary days as well.  Meeting God during those special times are meant to remind us that God is also walking with us into those places where we may be ignoring God.

The God we know in Jesus Christ seems to have this weird joy in showing up where he's not welcome and disturbing things in a redemptive kind of way.  More times than not, Jesus comes looking for us than we come looking for him.  And when we do go looking for Jesus, he rearranges our expectations and shows us how different his ways are from our ways.

So, your daily connection to God requires your intentional decision to meet with Him in prayer, Bible reading, worship music, poetry, serving, etc.  AND your daily connection to God is entirely up to God who has proven to be relentless in showing up even where He is not invited.  It's not either/or. It's both/and.

If you are looking for looking for some material to read this summer, here are some options that God may use to mess with you.

• Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and others. (You can get this in hardback, kindle or search iphone apps "Common Prayer" published by Zondervan
• Life Journal Bible Reading Plan.  Contact Rob Githens. He is placing an order. They are about $6.50.
•  The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak. It's about living the great commandment to love God and love your neighbor.
• You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving the Church and Rethinking Faith by David Kinnaman.