Always there

           During my career as a police officer I was, for a time, part of an intergovernmental group of officers who actively worked drug cases.  After the group was started we participated in a variety of training exercises developed to sharpen our skills in this particular segment of law enforcement.  Of note is the fact that each member of the group was selected for participation because of the skills and abilities each already possessed and used proficiently.  It is also of note that once the training began it became acutely obvious that in many areas in which we thought we were good, we failed miserably.  One 2 day training exercise that clearly brought that point home was a surveillance exercise.  Our instructor was a retired CIA officer.  We were taken to a rather large town which, at best, we were only remotely familiar.  We were divided into teams, and our objective was to keep the "suspect" (our instructor) under surveillance and carefully document his moves.  In the first exercise six pairs of eyes lost the man completely within 5 minutes.  And, for the remainder of the first day of those exercises it didn't get much better.  How embarrassing it was for the "suspect" to come walking up behind us after we had scrambled for a time looking for him, only to say "here I am."  Then he would go on to explain how he had "vanished" and what he had observed about us while we were looking for him.  The second day of the exercises were a little bit better as we all started to think more like the "suspect" than the cops tailing him.  The point he always made was that he was always there as we were struggling to see him.

           God's a lot like our "suspect."  We don't always see Him when we're looking for him, but he is always there.  And, should we choose, we can always look back and see the work of His hand in our lives as further proof that He didn't (or hasn't) abandoned us.  And, like our "suspect"/instructor, He will always be there to explain what He saw, the mistakes we have made, and how to prevent them in the future--if and when we open ourselves to hearing Him.

Bottom Line Thought:  Isn't it comforting to know that God will never abandon us or leave us?