~ by kaka Lucas, 7th July 2022

I am still receiving ordination gifts! Just letting you know in case you plan to get me one.

Yesterday I received a t-shirt and a book. The t-shirt was printed “Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry”. This is my special saint’s philosophy. The book is the diary of Saint Padre Pio. These are some of the things that I really appreciate.

Saint Padre Pio is my number one Saint and friend; my friend in heaven. He was so in love with Jesus that he was rewarded the gift of the five wounds of our Lord and what amazes me about him is that he could be in two or more places at once. ‘Places’, meaning, he could be in America and Africa at the same time, despite him actually living in Italy. His visits were rare and effective.

Today, I am reminded of the many times I met God. Just like Padre Pio, I have fallen in love with God over time. I am not one of the best lovers, for I have turned off many date nights, dinners, coffee dates, and even strolls in the park. But He is so amazing that He still finds a way to meet me.

God meets us in places we least expect.

Have you ever pondered if God is there just waiting for you, even when, like Peter did outside the courtyard, you are denying Him, saying in a loud voice, “I don’t know this man?”. Being created to live in space and time, God who is omniscient, omnipotence, and omnibenevolent. Unlike us, He is going to meet with us at a certain location, at a certain time. Nothing holds Him back from meeting us.

He has always done it before over the centuries. He walked in the garden with Adam in the cool breeze of the day. On another occasion, He was noted to have wrestled with Jacob through a long dark night by a stream called Jabbok. He offered his shoulder as comfort for the fugitive David in a dark limestone cave of Adullam. We can say that God is ever-present. He was there to stand with Jairus and his wife in the room upstairs when they stood grief stricken by the bedside of their dead daughter. One amazing story is told of when He crossed paths with his followers in the middle of the night, in the middle of the sea, in the middle of a storm (NOTE: the word Middle .(I don’t know what you are in the middle of at this moment. Just make sure you recognize His presence).

I can assure you there is no place He cannot be found. On one occasion while I was travelling, the Immigration Officer wanted to deport me when He reminded me of my ID that had my TRN number with all the details showing that I was indeed a Jamaican. I was then allowed to board the flight. He met me at the airport.

He waits for us in every room we are about to enter. Whether it be for an interview, check-up, or the bathroom, He is there. He stands quietly at the back. He is not chatty-chatty, but He is there.

Like a bacterium, he lingers around for as long as He remains God, at every bend of the path we ever walk. In the dark kitchen during the hot summer, when you get up at night for a cold glass of water, He is there. Actually, He is among those helping to wheel you out of the surgery room, and He is waiting for you to pop open your beautiful eyes in the recovery room when you come out from under the anesthesia. He is God and He is also there when you decide to go hiking to detox yourself and recover from the long hours of work. He is there on that mountainous road, covered with waves of hills and evergreen trees near the Blue mountains. He is there too on the long, red dirt road heading to Saint Elizabeth, along Bamboo Avenue in the sugarcane fields where you want to pause and rest. 

There is no place too far for Him. There is no night too dark for Him. There is no cave too deep, and no mountain peak too high for Him to reach. He is there, on the spot, wholehearted, pervasive, full of His loving presence. Yes, our God is there where you are.

 

As He is open to meeting us ANYPLACE, He is also encouraged when we are ready to meet Him SOMEPLACES. We all know how we can whisper a prayer, but truth be told, we must have special, specific places where we can meet with God.

We all have dates and have specific and special spots where we would take our date. So it ought to be with meeting God – perhaps in a chamber of hallowedness and holiness, similar to what the movie “War Room” features – a familiar place. It may not be as peaceful as you want, but it must be a place where you meet God again and again. Whether we kneel or stand, whether we are in the driver’s seat or the passenger’s seat in a cab, or the very moment you turn to pull the blanket and the rays of the10 am morning sun burns your eyes … that is the habitual “someplace” where you and I meet God. That place is more sacred and special than “anyplace”.

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