Seen the Holy One lately?

Be not afraid,

I go before you always.

Come, and follow me.

And I will give you rest.

-John Michael Talbot

What an invitation. So that's how my walk to the grocery store started on this cloudless blue sky sunny day. I wanted the walk to be a prayer, a meditation. A search for the Divine Presence. My eyes were open. My ears listening. All my other senses equally softly alert.

Then there he was... crossing the street to my side of the street, wearing a black t-shirt with what seemed to be an image of crown of thorns with a small cross below it in silver, or white. This young man, holding a water bottle on his right hand, now walking ahead of me was talking on his cell phone. Once in a while he looked back, as if checking up on me.

I saw this young man as the Christ. The cell phone represented his constant communication with the One who sent him. His looking back making sure I'm still on the path, ready to help me get right back on if I strayed. Sometimes we walked in the shade, sometimes in full sun, symbolizing the darkness and the light, the sadness and joy that is the human experience.

How about you? Where have you seen the Sacred One lately? When was the last time you were aware of the Divine Presence outside in the world?

Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light around me become night’,

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is as bright as the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

-Psalm 139 /nrsv