- God is everywhere (omnipresent): Mk 5:10
- God is all knowing (omniscient): Ps 139:1-6
- God is all powerful (omnipotent): Gen 17:1; 35:11
In the middle of the amusement park a mother yells out her sons name. "Marky. Marky. Marky where are you?" I, along with everyone else in the park with small children, count the heads of my own before I start looking around for a small boy who may look lost. Yes, all six of the boys I brought are accounted for and I gather them in a circle, "stay put", I say, "watch each other". I venture away from them a few feet, looking in all directions trying to spot the child who somehow got out of the eye sight of his mother. Noting several other adventure park guests doing the same thing, I keep an eye on the kids with me, making sure they remain safe while everyone searches for the child that slipped away.
I find myself no longer looking for a missing child, but scan the crowd of adults, looking for someone who might be walking away from the area, looking suspicious. I see an old man in the crowd, standing his ground, with his head bowed down and his hands together, fingers stitched through each other, his eyes closed and his lips moving in prayer. With-in seconds of witnessing this random time of prayer I hear a crowd clapping and turn to see the young boy reunited with his mother. I turn back and look at the old man just as he lifts his head up looking in the sky. I read his lips as he points up in the sky. "Thank you", he says.
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We are driving to the hotel, the eight of us, six children and two adults, on a weekend get-a-way. The streets are busy with drivers and walkers. The red light turns green and we proceed straight ahead to our destination. Quickly we hear sirens, looking in the rear view mirror we see them coming up fast on the mini van we are in. I pull over to the right so the emergency vehicles can get through. Not because it is the law, but because a moment to long in the way of their mission to help someone could cost someone a life. Pulled over next to the curb I noticed the pedestrians along the sidewalk, stopping and gawking at the sirens as they breeze by us.
I notice a young woman who has stopped walking, just like the dozens of people around her have. I notice she has not turned herself around to see the action going on. I watch as she makes the sign of cross and then makes a fist with her hand and puts it against her heart. No doubt she has said a prayer in hopes that it would help whoever was waiting for those emergency vehicles to arrive. She simply took a step, and then another, until I could no longer find her in a crowd that was still standing there, listening as those sirens faded in the distance ahead.
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We were heading home from our weekend of fun when we stopped at a restaurant to fill our bellies for the hour ride home we had yet to drive. Eight of us filled up two booths. In the booth across from both of the booths we were in sat an elderly couple. I took note of their order when the waitress asked them what they would be having today. A cup of potato soup, a burger and fries. "Could you bring an extra plate please?" It was clear to me they would split their meal when it arrived, and wash it down with the water they asked for as their beverage. Today's world, I thought, low income elderly trying to make ends meet by splitting their lunch meal. Probably a rare treat for them to even eat out. Our order was taken next and just as I had monitored their order, I could tell the old man was listening to the food we were ordering to pump into our bellies. I wondered what he thought, the splurging we took in our meal, when him and his wife so carefully split their meal to make their money spread further into their monthly budget.
I watched as their meal arrived and they carefully split everything from the burger and fries to the soup. They ate in silence, giving me the impression this was their Sunday routine. The old man watched us as our meal arrived and we bowed our heads in prayer before we dug into our lavish meal. He smiled and there was laughter in his eyes, even though he kept it to himself. I noted that they did not say a prayer before they ate, but when they were done with the meal they bowed their heads in silence, more than likely thanking God for a meal, and each other. As they exited their booth, the old man came over to our table. He said to my friend Bill and I, the boys chaperones for the weekend, "My wife and I were talking about how nice it is to see such young boys bow their heads to pray before their meal." I acknowledged his comment with a thank you as they walked away, stopping briefly at the counter up front to pay their bill and talked to the waitress we all shared.
I turned my attention back to the booths we occupied and listened as the boys traded food and laughed with each other. I thought of the old man and his wife and how our by chance meeting in that restaurant seemed to make his life a bit happier. A knock on the window turned my head to look out. The old man and his wife walking by, giving me a little wave. We waved back, strangers in the same restaurant at the same time. The waitress approached our table "is there anything else today?" "No", I tell her, thank you but we are ready for our bill." I waited for our bill to be handed to me but instead the waitress said "Your bill was paid for by they elderly couple across from you."
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God IS everywhere. I believe this with all my heart, yet I fail to see it in my everyday walk of life. I tend to take it for granted, knowing He is with me and that He is keeping me out of harms way. God provides me with the faith I need to make decisions based on his Word, walk in His light, live by his Commandments. I was not looking for signs of God, my faith in Him, or anyone else's faith in Him, when I laid a visual witness to His power of prayer through fellow Christians.
Witnessing other people practicing their faith and beliefs in a higher power is as enlightening to my heart as if I were on my knees in His house, worshiping Him for the life he has given me. It renews ones faith in the goodness in the world and refreshes one's soul to the still out of reach eternal life that is the goal of Christians across the world. The comfort of that old man at the fun park, that young women on the sidewalk, and that old couple at the diner in stopping to say a prayer in public touched my heart. It is not often that you witness someone practicing their faith outside of their homes, or houses of worship. It showed me that not only is God everywhere, and not just everywhere that I am, but God is everywhere that everyone is. God IS everywhere.
Because God is everywhere, that makes Him all knowing and all powerful. God truly is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. If you cannot understand that concept in your mind, or in your heart, or in your soul, take note of your surroundings. Try spending time each day to take note of those around you. Watch their actions, look into their eyes, read their lips. Are you surrounded by public prayer and worship? Can you feel God with you everywhere? Can you see God with others near you? He is there, you just have to believe. Keep the faith.
People see God every day, they just don't recognize him. ~Pearl Bailey
"What do you think of God," the teacher asked. After a pause, the young pupil replied, "He's not a think, he's a feel." ~Paul Frost
Don't look for God where He is needed most; if you didn't bring Him there, He isn't there. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
All that I have seen teaches me to trust God for all I have not seen. ~Author Unknown
