Finding God in America
Wal-Mart (Evanston, Wyoming)
October 2, 2003
Setting out to find God in America, I needed to be taught a very important lesson right from the beginning…to find God in America or in each and every day, it’s not a matter of looking for Him, but of looking to Him by drawing close to Him—spending time with Him and getting to know Him personally. He will then reveal Himself in more ways than we ever thought possible.
There’s no need to search for Him outside of ourselves when He is alive inside of us. The outside vision will be revealed in all things when the inside vision of Him is very clear. That is what God wanted to teach me on this day.
That is what I learned when the day was done.
Keep the Focus!
Traveling down the road today, the miles added up behind us. As each mile passed, I sought God. I sought Him when other things were distracting. I sought Him when my human mind started to search for Him in the physical realm, and I kept returning to what He wanted me to learn—seek Him above all else, keep my heart focused on Him, and He will reveal Himself in wonderful ways that will bring contentment and joy to our lives.
As the day wore on, I wondered just how He would do this. I wondered when He would reveal Himself to me because I believed that in the obedience of seeking Him, He would reward that obedience. He was trying to teach me something, and I was eager to learn. When I was tempted to look for Him out the window, I would look inside of myself, into my heart, and find Him again. I would draw close to His presence not by looking out, but by looking in. Not by looking at the beauty of the world He created, but by looking at the beauty of His Spirit above all else.
Drive, Drive, Drive!!
The day was long; the drive covered hundreds of miles as we tried to make some headway on this first trip across the U.S.A. It is part business, part pleasure, and partly has a time period that it must be done in. In the future, this will not be the way we travel. When the 23rd Psalm talks of God making us lie down in green pastures or leading us beside still waters, that is what we will be doing. For now, we drive!
At the end of this long day, we stopped in our “usual place” for a quick night’s rest before getting on our way again. This “place” is better known as Wal-Mart. Many RVer’s stop here for the night. The price is right, although Wal-Mart is smarter than we think…one quick trip into the store could end up costing more than any RV park would charge for a night’s stay! It’s best to park way out…way out!!
And so we did, we parked on the outskirts of this large lot, and we were just eating our dinner—when the rain started. Not a torrential downpour, but the sounds of raindrops were a pleasant change on our dusty rubber roof. We were enjoying the wet weather after months of a dry summer in California. I guess this was our welcome to Wyoming!
A Reliable God
Then it appeared…the rainbow. As the sun was setting, the Wal-Mart sign was lit not from interior lights, but from exterior. The sun illuminated the building and just to the right of it was a beautiful rainbow that ended on the top of a large semi-truck parked out here by us. As the sun set and the rainbow appeared, I knew that God was revealing Himself in a magnificent way! The rainbow, God’s promise, came down on the side of a truck with the word RELIABLE printed in large letters on its side. I had noticed this truck when it pulled in because on the side, up close to the cab, was a picture of a white cross set above a highway. God was putting these pieces together and I was thoroughly enjoying it! The focus of my heart had been on Him, and He displayed His pleasure--in a Wal-Mart parking lot right before my very eyes!
Could God have revealed Himself in a more visible way? His promise of the rainbow after the storm? He is “Reliable!” He is our Refuge, our Redeemer, and our Savior. I didn’t need to “Find Him in America.” He is alive and well and still hard at work drawing people to Himself--revealing Himself each day. We will know it is Him, when we know Him! What a fun and loving God we serve!
I didn’t need to search the landscape for God, although I saw Him in the sunrise this morning, in the color of the mountains in Utah, and in the changing colors in the fields of Idaho. I didn’t need to strain and wonder how or when I would see Him most clearly. He made Himself completely visible in the setting of the sun as it shown through the drops of rain, making a beautiful rainbow over the word RELIABLE right here in a typical parking lot, in our great country!
When we look to God, He will show us everything we are looking for. When we turn our eyes upon Him by giving Him our hearts each day we live, He will reveal Himself to us in ways we could never imagine--in tiny miracles along the way that will amaze us!
The Day is Done
The sky is dark now as I sit writing this--the RELIABLE truck just pulled out and went on its way. The rainbow is gone, and soon we will be calling it a day as we climb into our comfy bed right here in the parking lot, but I will never forget this day of great learning. Not a hard lesson, not a confusing one, but a simple one of seeking God above all else and knowing that His promises will never fail us.
He alone is RELIABLE!
