First Day in NYC (and Hosting the Presence)

I'm in NYC. 

So far, so good. Catching up with Nate. Meeting his roommates. Being hot and sweaty as it's 80 degrees here and a chance of rain. I came here to see U2 tonight. But I know there is more that this short stint in the Big Apple has for me. I'm at a café right in Park Slope in Brooklyn right now called the Tea Lounge taking in all the people. People reading, eating, doing their online updates, email checks and Facebooking. Business types. Classy types. Straight types. Gay types. Busy types. Bored types. And then there is me in the midst of it all excited to be somewhere new and yet excited (even before I got to LAX) to be back home already because I know He's up to something with my time here.

So we'll see what that something is overtime while I'm here. I'm excited for worship on Tuesday and that excitement gets deeper as I walk down Union Street surround by the chilling presence of God while listening to a song that sings "I will hold nothing back from you". Its amazing where He can be found if we just pay attention to the wind and to the whisper.

I pray you, whoever you are reading this and wherever you are reading this, find yourself as a host of the Presence today. Maybe, as you read this, you don't even know what I mean by that, but all that means is encountering what the First Nations people called the Great Spirit that surrounds us all and the same Spirit who Genesis says was "hovering over the waters" since the beginning (Gen 1:2) and Jesus himself said we must be born of the Spirit (John 3), just like the wind comes and goes with no explanation so it is with God's Spirit.

Invite the Presence. Encounter the Presence. Host the Presence. In all your deeds. In all your comings and goings. He's waiting to be encountered!