I am a pretty typical American leader.  I believe that people should not have meetings unless there are reasons for the meetings.  I believe that an agenda should be created and followed.  I believe that goals should be set, monitored and met.  I create a worship order and try to stick with it every Sunday.  I was taught that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Except often we miss God in the formal structures and straight lines.  Today at a prayer breakfast, we were given a message about Moses.  In Chapter 3 of Exodus, we read:  Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.  So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  The part that was brought up this morning (and I never caught before) was the last sentence.  When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look…

Moses could have kept going, but he not only noticed but took the time to go back and see this amazing burning bush.  How often do we just keep on going, trying to keep up our to-do lists, goals and agendas?  How often do we miss out on God’s great works because we are too busy being productive, goal-oriented people?

While hearing this, I immediately thought of my daughter.  One day she asked if we could go to the park to play.  And so to the park we went.  Now in my orderly mind this is simple.  Leave house, go down the street, make a right turn, follow that street to the end then make a left turn, follow that street to the park.  Enter park, play, have fun, go home.  Simple, isn’t it?  But to my five year old daughter, getting there is half the fun.  She stops and looks at flowers.  She stops and looks at rocks and stones.  She marvels at God’s creation.  She wants to stop at the neighbor’s wishing well and sit on the neighbor’s bench.  She sees something in the clouds.  She hears something that she likes.  She experiences God’s world in a way that we “big people” keep forgetting.  And so, after cajoling her to get moving, I stop.  And I look.  And I listen.  And I see God’s handiwork all around me, especially in the wonder and love of my daughter.

And so all of you hard working, goal oriented, task achieving type “a” personalities like me, take a lesson from my daughter.  Stop and look at a rock.  Then take a lesson from God’s word.  If you see something wondrous, go to it.  Who knows, maybe God will speak with you.

May God bless you abundantly,

Bill