In Every Place

You have brains in your head. 

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. 

And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go. 

- Dr. Seuss

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Did you get this book for graduation?

Yeah. Me, neither. 

But I know some kids that did. (I'm sure they have it lovingly stored away somewhere in their attics.)

I've been out of high school for 17 years this June. And since then I've been to lots of places. Just like Dr. Seuss said I would.

New York.

Vegas.

Disney World.

A garden wedding in the mountains on a hot July day.

A riverboat in New Orleans.

A stage, speaking His Word.

A Hospice room while she floated away.

The rubble of a burned down house, smoke filling my nostrils.

An emergency room, pain and loss and emptiness merging to create a new kind of grief.

At the ripe old age of 18 I thought my future was clearly mapped out: stars marking my stops, direct lines indicting my routes. 

I learned quickly that in life we find ourselves in places we'd never map out. How did I get here? Have you ever, by chance, been to:

The State of Denial?

Rock Bottom?

Up the River Without a Paddle?

I hear these places are never lovely at any time of year.

But I also learned quickly that no matter where I tried to run, what escape passage I may have planned, the evacuation route I frantically followed, or the tunnels in which I'd hide-

He was there.

In every place.

In all the places I'd go, He was in every place.

I found myself overwhelmed with anxiety tonight. The road seemingly too long, the waters too rough. The way dreary and dark.

Oh how the doubt took the small flicker of anger that was in my heart and turned it into a wildfire. 

I'm about to be mad at you, God. These things you've asked me to do are too much. The territory Satan has gained on my map is increasing. Are you doing anything about it?!

In obedience, I know what to do. I turn in prayer and literally lay at His feet in my brokenness on the floor of my prayer closet. 

Praise You, Good Father. I love you. Where are You?

Child, I am in every place. 

"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off? "Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:23-24

Friend, there is no place you can go that He is not present. No place He will take you that He was not willing to go Himself. 

Where are you, Father?

I am in every place.

I need you to hear today (and I need to hear today) that you are never alone. Through all the joy and danger and scary and happy and laugh till you're crying and cry till you're laughing -

He is there.

Because He is in every place His children find themselves.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Today you may find yourself alone in the little town of Sorrow and Uncertainty. But if we look closer at the sign on the drive into the city limits you'll find it actually says Population: 2.

In every place. 

Ah, there are some places in my travel log and pictures in my scrapbook I wish I could erase. But I never experienced these things alone. And this route I'm driving on now is no different.

So it goes with you, too, friend. While we may pray our travels take us only the safest, quickest paths to the sunniest and most beautiful places, let's change our prayer. Let's instead turn that prayer into a prayer of praise to Him who goes with us, thanking Him for never leaving us. Because after all,

He is there.

In every place.

Somehow you’ll escape all 

that waiting and staying.

You’ll find the bright places

where the Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,

once more you’ll ride high!

Ready for anything under the sky.