In The Center

I was asked to speak last night to the ladies at Pinelake Church and wow, what a night! Those girls were on fire for the Lord! The praising and worshipping started well before I got there and we all had a grand time!

This week I was listening to a political commentary about the increase in the number of independent voters. He said the democratic party has gone far to the left; the republican party has gone left of center; and the independent party has gone right of center taking up nearly 33% of registered voters. All of his talk of which party is centered and which one is not got me thinking.

In Exodus 25-28, God told Moses exactly how to build the ark of the covenant. In those instructions, God makes is plain where He wanted to be. The Holy of Holies was to be built in the center of the tabernacle. In the middle of the Holy of Holies was to sit the ark of the covenant. And in the middle or inside of the ark of the covenant was to be God's presence. Anywhere the ark went, God's presence was to be right there, in the middle. Do you see a pattern here? God wants to be the center of your world and my world. If God can't be center of your life, He doesn't want to be at all. God doesn't fit in the 'left of center' corner or the 'right of center' corner. And when He is the center, all else must move around Him.

There are some days when God is the center of my life. Other days, I admit, I shift Him over....just a wee bit. But He can't be off-center. He's either in the center or He's not at all.

I have shared with some of you my recent encounter with a homeless man near WLBT's studios. After the 10pm news last night, I hung around my office getting some last minute things done and was a bit later than normal leaving to go home. As I pulled out of the parking lot and pulled up to the traffic light in front of the Jackson Ice Company, I noticed somebody digging through the trash. The Lord immediately impressed upon me what I needed to do. When the light turned green, I made a U turn and drove into the parking lot of the store. To be honest, I didn't know if I had any money in my wallet, but I went on faith anyway. After all, why would God tell me to give the man money if I had no money to give? I peered in my wallet and guess what I found? Two dollars! (Those of you who have heard my story know how significant two dollars are to this story.) I rolled down the window, asked him if he needed money, and when he came over to get it, I noticed it was a different man than the one I had given to twice before. Why did God send a totally different homeless man to the same location at the same time I would be driving by? God works in mysterious ways and when the Holy Spirit speaks, listen.