One of my responsibilities as Christian Education Director at my church is to order material for the classes and study groups starting in September.  A new class is being offered this fall called “Foundations” — it will be a place for new believers or people without a church background to learn about the basic beliefs of the Christian faith.  Each topic has its own study guide: God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Church, Salvation, and the Bible.  I’m excited to give people a solid place to begin their journey of faith.

When the box arrived this week I eagerly opened it to look over the material.  The packing list was resting on top and something caught my eye.  At the bottom of the printout was the following statement:

THE ITEM LISTED BELOW IS PRESENTLY UNAVAILABLE:

BACKORDERED: GOD

No kidding.

Later, as I was talking to a friend about the class, the conversation went something like this:

“What topic should we start with?”

“Well, I was hoping to start with God, but He’s on backorder, so I guess we’ll have to start with Jesus.”

“That’s not a bad place to start.”

“Yeah, that will be fine, unless God gets here before the 9th.”

Huh.  Ever feel that way?  I sure have.  I place my order with God (do this, change that, heal him, help her) and when it doesn’t pan out according to my plan, I’m disappointed.  I keep hoping God will show up in the nick of time, but I am already forming a back-up plan just in case.  Before long, I wonder why He seems far away.

I’ve found that most often, when I feel distant from God, it’s because I’m not showing up.

Maybe I’d better sign up for the class in basics.

I seem to need to relearn those foundational truths regularly.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  James 4:8