Psalm 84 is about being in the Lord’s temple.  Vs. 10” For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.”

As I read the Psalm this morning on our back patio, I thought of how often I liked to take a break from the office and walk through the church.  I generally didn’t do anything spiritual.  I would pick up a stray bulletin, straighten a hymnal, study the stained – glass windows.  Yet, there was something peaceful and settling about walking about in the Lord’s house.

There were a couple times when as Psalm 73 says, I was seeking to understand something, “until I went into the sanctuary of God…”   On vicarage at Grace in Oshawa, Ontario, I struggled with the statement in the creed, “descended into hell.”  It’s based on I Peter 3:18-19, in mind a rather vague statement.   But a sense of resolution occurred when I walked about the sanctuary.  The other occasion was when I was considering the call to Immanuel, in Marshfield Wisconsin.  I didn’t want to take the call, yet I didn’t feel comfortable turning it down.  Saturday night I took the envelope with the call documents and literally tossed them on the altar at Zion, Albert Lea, MN.  The answer didn’t come that morning during worship.  However, while making some hamburgers at home after church, I was discussing my dilemma.  Becky said, that my discomfort in turning the call down was maybe a sign I should take it.  So, I did.

The other take away is that one does not know when, how and through whom the Holy Spirit will work.  So be alert and open for surprises.