God is missing

[Red Prudente]

A little boy was always stealing things and mama took him everywhere to get help but nothing worked. Finally, she took Johnny to the pastor. She sat in the outer room while Johnny went into the pastor's office. The pastor talked to Johnny, but the kid was unresponsive. In desperation the pastor figured he would impress upon the boy the God sees everything that he does, so he asked "Johnny, do you know where God is?" The boy jumped out of his chair, ran to his mother, looked at her and yelled, "I'm getting out of here. God is missing and they're trying to blame that on me, too!"

Dear God, we know that You are not missing! You are all around us. YOU ARE EVERYWHERE, but I like to think of Your being in three places in a very special way: in our Churches, in our hearts, and in the hearts of others. You come to us in the person of Jesus who comes to us in the person of other people! We must remember that each individual we come into contact with is in your image and likeness. You truly live within them. We meet you a countless number of times throughout the day, but we fail to recognize you. We see only our spouse or our children or our parents. We see only our coworker or the man or woman behind the check-out counter. We see only the gas station attendant pumping gas into our car. What we fail to realize is that you dwell within them. You told us so yourself! You identified yourself with other people. You said: "Whatsoever you do to or for other people, you do to or for me!" Please, Jesus, let us be more mindful of that today.