View

Driving along the Fen roads on my way to make a home visit, the view was flying past my window. I couldn’t help but notice the beauty of the horizon stretched like an open canvas around me.  

The fields brushed full of wheat, the sky awash with grey clouds.  I don’t know what caused me to slow down but before I understood, I began looking for a farm drove so that I could pull over and park.

Leaving my diary on the seat, I stepped out on to the rain soaked land, feeling that I was stepping out on Holy Ground. The soil black, turned out in rows of green abundance, shouting fruitfulness in all its glory for any who would stop to see. The wind blew my hair and then nearby rustling trees, swaying in a kind of dance.  A chorus of birds rose up out of the corn as I stood there, camera in hand, marvelling at the sight.

I knew then that God was there.  

It’s not that he wasn’t with me the car a few minutes before. Of course he was. It’s just that I never noticed. 

But when I stood on the land, camera in hand, I was in a position to greet him.

It is so easy to live distracted life, isn’t it? There is just so much to do:  the house to be cleaned, children to be organised, diary dates to be remembered. (Not that I get all these things done!) But when the list is complete, you’d think that we would pop the cork and toast the victory, but we don’t.  Instead we stuff our minds with an addictive diet of fast food worries and concerns. Too terrified to touch the void, we prefer instead to stuff it with cheap novels, bottles of drink, and whatever else works for you…

But now, here we are.

And God?  

He is here too.

‘Crazy, how this vicar keeps going on about God,’  you may think.

 Yeah. But there is a reason:

If you could meet the people in Chatteris I have met

                                 and hear the stories I have heard,

                                                  perhaps you would understand.  

……………………………………………

·         “My dad died. I had never been to church before. But as I stood there in the funeral service, I knew that God was real and that he was with me. I can’t explain it. It was an amazing feeling. And I knew at that moment that I needed to find out more about God.”

·          “My marriage broke down and I felt really alone. I didn’t know where else to turn so I went to sit inside the church on my own. As I sat there, I felt peace, incredible peace. I have never felt anything like it before. I knew that it was God.  God was with me.”

……………………………………………..

The diary dates, the lists of things-to-do, the days and even the years are all racing by the window of our lives.

I wonder what it will take for you to slow down and stop and attend to the knowledge that

God is here.

God is here

Right now, He knows your joy and he feels your pain. His arms are open wide.

................................

I wonder what you will say?

The writer of Psalm 46 sang a song of praise for all God had done for him. He shouts thanks to God for his protection. God is his defence and has given him the victory. He remembers the moment and sings praise to God. He sees that God is over all, so he stands in awe ready to greet him.   

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

          He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.’

          The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

                                       - Psalm 46. 7 - 11

 Remember: what God has done for others, he can do for you. 

Remember God is love.