Scripture reading
But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head.
–Psalm 3:3
Thought of the Day
I love how God carefully places special moments in our lives to touch and to remind us of Him. This past weekend God did His magic and I had an amazing God moment. I was on a conference retreat with three hundred and fifty sixth graders and adults. It was a great weekend. Our theme is “Caught by Christ”, and is lifted up through the talks and music and small group time. It is cool to see the sixth graders begin to figure out what it means to be a part of a group and what it means to be “caught” by Christ.
My God moment was at the closing worship on Sunday. After the praise music and the talk, there was a short drama with Peter and Andrew, the disciples, sharing how they first met Christ and were caught by His love. The youth had been given paper fish earlier and were asked to write what it meant to be caught by Christ. They were asked by Peter and Andrew to come to the altar and pray giving thanks to God for His love and for wanting to “catch” each one of us. I was standing at the front as the youth and counselors came down to the chancel rail. Towards the end of this time, I saw a group of five youth and an adult coming to the front. The youth were all from a small church and the adult was their youth leader. I watched as he knelt and the youth knelt all around him. I saw him reach out his big arms and encircle the group of sixth graders and they began to pray together. His large loving arms wrapped around all of them. It was awesome. At that moment those youth were protected from the world and the bad things in it. They were under his wing in a way. They were connected.
As I watched this happen, I realized that this is the way God wants it. He wants to gather us with His loving caring arms wrapped around us. He wants to protect us. He wants to connect with us. I’ll never forget that God moment. Even though you weren’t there to see it, now you have it in your memory too. Feel free to pull it out and use it whenever you need to.
Prayer
Lord, You are a shield for me. Amen.