6 Seek the Lord while He wills to be found.

Note: Since I just established that I believe that both Jew and Christian share the same God, I will now go from saying “Judeo-Christian God” all the time to saying simply “God” mostly.

Realizing that the quest for God was between Him and me alone, I now needed to figure out what I thought it meant to have a personal relationship with God. I mulled that idea over quite a bit. And here is where knowing about God helped me begin to notice God. (You see, God is always there, nearby, calling us, drawing us to Him. We just have to recognize it. Big secret!)

Back to what I was saying.

Remember my wonderful Baptist Grandfather? (My parents were John Knox Presbyterians and I was reared by them in this conservative, correct and positive denominational environment; but Daddy Mac, my grandfather, was my primary mentor.) As one of our many and varied activities together (He was a great gardener and craftsman, too.), he had regularly coached me in memorizing scripture as a young child. In my kindergarten years, he would pick out scripture and I would memorize it, lots of it. I guess I was a pretty good reader even then, because I would read and then I would recite back from memory. (My memory was a potent tool back then.) And one verse that I remembered from his schooling was, to paraphrase slightly since that is the way I remembered it, seek the Lord while He wills to be found. Isaiah 55:6 NKJV

Sitting there at my kitchen table, now focused on my new quest for God, that Bible verse came squarely to mind.

Simultaneously, a notion of urgency overcame me, conveying with it a compelling get started, the clock is ticking sort of vibe.

Startled, I sat upright and considered. I have been so focused on religion. Why not do the opposite—turn all my attention on God, and keep it there? And suddenly I felt like such an airhead for wasting so much time getting to this juncture.

I thought: The difference between knowing about institutions and knowing about people is huge! Just like the difference between knowing about someone and knowing him is huge. I thought about how knowing about a famous person is a far-cry from knowing that person. And how the private person is usually much different from the public one. To know a person privately, intimately involves a whole different perceptual content and approach from the lesser mode of acquiring a mere working notion about someone.

In fact, I could now recognize that when I want to get to know a person, I behave in some very specific ways, as I’m sure you do. For one, my interaction with them expands dramatically. I find ways to spend time with them. I talk and listen to them. I share thoughts, feelings and desires. I confide in them and begin to trust in and rely on them. I put things to them first and give top priority to their take on matters. I allow what they say to mean the most to me. I give them authority status in almost everything. And, as I do, I am making an important place for them in my life, right? Right.

Oh boy! Here we go, I thought. Making an important place for someone in my life involves even more. It means learning, learning more about that person, getting to KNOW him--finding out what makes him tick. Who he is? What he thinks? What he does? What matters to him and why? How he acts? Is he funny? Kind? Thoughtful? Frank? Open? Friendly? Is he easy-going? Honest? Loyal? Gosh, so many things to find out? And, hopefully, enjoy finding out.

Had I ever done any of this with God? I asked myself. And the answer was no, not like this. These things still NEEDED doing—expanding my interaction and learning more. Furthermore, with a special someone you have to be regular. Special someones do not feel special if it’s hit and miss, off and on. With God I had always been off and on. So there it was, my thoughtful reader, my error and therefore my new direction—no more off and on.

Yet, what was truly sobering to me was that I did not know the answers to those aforementioned questions above when it came to God. But, I argued on with myself, those are the kinds of things one knows about a dear friend—not an all-powerful deity, right?

Wrong! Jesus called us (His) friends (Once again, material from the database compiled in me by my Grandfather—“. . . but I have called you friends . . .” John 15:15) He WANTED us to be His friends. Now why had I not grasped that truth before? Pure rhetoric, dear reader. I have no answer to that question.

Refusing to be drawn off upon a tangent of maudlin remorse, I retook my bearings and yielded to my new moment of insight: Since it was undeniable that He wanted us to be friends, so be it, I decided. I would endeavor to do just that. I would think about Him, remember Him in everything, be interested in Him, include Him in my life. I would learn everything about Him that I could. Share all my experiences with Him. Make Him a big part of my life. Aspire to eventually become a lot like Him. And everyone but everyone would know that I was loyal to and had a high opinion of Him. Even from my position of shallow understanding of Jesus, I could conclude that no less effort could be justified.

We would be BEST friends! If I could help it!

After all, I had it from scripture itself that God wills to be found. He wants to be sought out, pursued and found. It is His preapproved plan. He would be there when I came looking. If I would just get going! Journey on!

So journey on it was, gentle reader. And as I describe this spiritual journey, hopefully, with the help of my destined-to-be great friend, God, what I think will become distinctly clear to me and therefore to you.


To be continued . . .