Not Doing the Dos

This is eternal life , that they may know You, the only true God , and Jesus Christ whom You have sent .

John 17:3

I've had an on-the-run relationship with God lately.
And, oddly enough, I don't feel distant from him.
I don't feel like he's mad at me.
Life has sort of swept me along the past week or so, as I found myself caught up in the lives of others who were hurting, who needed my time, my attention, my support.
Along the way, I kept talking to God. I interceded for my friends. Sometimes my prayer was nothing more than the words, "Oh, God ..."
And I think God knew exactly what I meant. I think he understood how much my heart was hurting for my friends and how much I wished I could make it better. But all I could do was turn to him and ask him to be God in their lives.
Sometimes my prayers were worship songs sung at the top of my voice as I chose to praise him even when life didn't seem to make sense.
Sometimes my prayers were focused requests for God to be Jehovah Shalom, the God of Peace, or Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. And always, I asked for God to be mighty on the behalf of my friends' 12-year-old son who has cancer--and an arduous battle ahead of him.

Thinking Out Loud Here: We Accidental Pharisees like to do all the Dos and avoid all the Don'ts. We major in religion and minor in relationship. But this past week, God and I had a relationship. He ran with me as I ran to my friends--and he paced me as I tried to be there for them. He didn't "tsk-tsk" me for not having a proper quiet time. I think he was glad I kept talking to him through it all. I didn't say, "I'll get back to you, God, once I'm done dealing with this crisis." No. I walked through the crisis--am still walking through the crisis--with God beside me.