Praise Habit – You are here.

As I said in yesterday’s blog I have just finished reading a book by David Crowder called Praise Habit. I totally recommend it. The desire David [Mr Crowder] has is that we engage with both God and with people needing God [and salvation]. This comes across in his voice, his words and his music.

This passage is how David Crowder concludes his book. It lays down a Holy Spirit inspired challenge for each of us; for me and for you. It is about living with a heart for fusion.



YOU ARE HERE

There is a sign in my favorite restaurant, 1424, which happens to be located directly across the street from my house, that hangs by the bar and states, in black letters on a pale-yellow background, "You Are Here." I call often for takeout. I pretend that they are my residential kitchen staff that just so happens to cook the most flavorful foods on the planet. The chef's name is Bill, and he knows exactly how I like my pork tenderloin. We have never discussed it; he just knows. He's always known. And as I wait for my order to be packed in white Styrofoam and placed in a plastic bag for transport. I sit at the bar and read, "You Are Here," and it brings a comfort and solidity to things. You often hear or encounter inspirational art convincing you to live as if today is the last, to engage each moment as if it were all we had, but usually this is married to the idea that it is. That this is it. There is nothing more than now. All we get is what we suck out of this moment. But I disagree. I read, "You Are Here," and I am equally inspired to be fully present in this moment, but it is not because that is all I have but because I am bringing something more. I am bringing the very kingdom of God. I read, "You Are Here," and I, ignoring the dramatic punctuation of finality, think, ”The kingdom of God is sitting at this bar, waiting to bring something better." We are to be rescue. We are to be redemption. We are to carry the story of God to the ones waiting. To the ones with their hands on their chest, begging you to notice that things aren't right. And this is praise. You are the note sounding in a thousand different rooms. There are chords and reflective surfaces around you. There is context.

Sometimes life comes at us with the delicacy of a sunset, and other limes it comes with the rawness of sushi and the bitter bite of wasabi [sauce]. Sometimes the tears will be because you cannot stand empty-eyed in the presence of such beauty and sometimes they will be full of fire, but notice/know this: You are here. You Are Here! You are here and you are not alone.

Look me in the eyes. Can you feel the fabric on your skin? It is woven from the threads of love. Pay attention to the way it folds around you, sense its softness, brush the hair of your arms as you lift them toward the heavens in unencumbered declaration.

It is the coverings of rescue that you feel. It is a flood. It is an ocean. It is a sea that has no bottom, for there is no end to it. To be fully present in the rescue and recreation of Christ is to embrace what God does for us, and this is the best thing we can do for Him.

- David Crowder