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The Secret to Communing with God During an RV Fire

Your heart is still before God. You are meditating, in prayer, focused on your Creator. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you see it. People are running on the highway, cars are stopped. Smoke rises from an RV stalled out in the middle of the road. Then, the smoke turns black and flames engulf the whole vehicle, smoldering metal and bending to the fire’s will. The RV is in an all consuming fire.

There is one secret I have learned about communing with God at times like this. You cannot.

Life outside—on the highways, in the cubicles, in the family room—does not conform to the rhythms of our spiritual lives. We cannot prevent RVs from catching on fire during our time of stillness. We cannot remove the chatter of children during prayer or their need to go to the bathroom during our favorite song at church. We cannot foresee the important phone call or the traffic jam or the burnt dinner. We can only be ready to be present with God as long as we are able, and as long or as deep as life allows.

The real secret to communing with God during the stuff of life is to just show up. That’s really all that is required of us. Yes, there are disciplines like fasting or prayer walks or meditation that help us show up well, but the crux of our spiritual life will be to always show up. No matter what. God is ever present, waiting and yearning for us to be in relationship, and even present in the times when we are so focused on our daily tasks. God is there, inviting us to just show up and be ready to participate in a beautiful relationship that transcends the stuff of this world. God is there before the RV catches on fire. God is present after that same vehicle is a smoldering and spent pile of ash and shriveled metal. All we need to do is keep coming back into our Creator’s presence, and we will be on the right path.