Shea: Do you remember the first time you had something like a God encounter?
Tim: That’s an interesting question. I was pretty young, maybe five or six. A bunch of ants were marching down our sidewalk and I just sat in the grass and stared at them. I had this strange sense of how enormous I must seem to them—how completely beyond their comprehension someone like me must be. Then I started staring at the sky…
Shea: You were having an Awesome God moment!
Tim: Sure was. Then my dad took a broom and swept them off the sidewalk—
Shea: Oh no! It morphed into an Awful God moment!
Tim: Obviously, that wasn’t Dad’s intention. But to my child’s mind it felt very arbitrary and unjust. I wanted to chase after the tiny ants and say, “I’m your friend. I’m not the one who did that terrible thing to you!”
Shea: Sounds familiar.
Tim: And now it occurs to me that I’ve put myself in the God role, which is uncomfortable to say the least. Nonetheless, I imagine God desires to tell us, “I’m not the one with the broom! I love you. I’m watching over you. Don’t confuse me with the sweepers…”
Shea: It’s so important that we really know who God is and how God works.
Tim: Without that, we run the risk of living in paralyzing fear of a God who means us nothing but good.
Shea: Which is why we’re taking a closer look at God in our next Gather Bible study.
Tim: Oh yes. It all starts with God. If we don’t really know who God is and how God really works, we’re just talking. And, seriously, who’s got time for that?
Join us this Thursday for Week Two or our study series, “Origins.” Come ready for an Awesome God moment!
L!VE Café, 163 S. Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park. Doors open at 7:00p, study begins at 7:30p. If you can’t be with us in person, join us via Facebook Live.
As we prepare to become a vibrant worshipping community, we invite you to enjoy a Spotify playlist that captures the kind of worship we hope to embrace. Give it a spin while you’re driving. Make it your workout jam. Add it to your devotional time. Most of all, feel yourself becoming part of a sacred village of believers who love their God and one another!
Check out the Gather Worship Playlist here
