Restoration Blog: Being Still: God and Spain

"Be still and know that I am God."

Those words are so simple. That truth about God is so simple. I could theologically over analyze it...turn it into an analysis about the omniscience and omnipresence in His deity.

But I don't want to do that. In chaos, I just need to recognize and know this truth:

He is God. I am not.

What heights of peace do I reach just pondering this.

Catedral de Leon

For the past week I've especially needed to continuously quiet my heart and grasp for stillness before God. Typically, after experiencing this place of peace for a while, I begin to feel restless...in the good sense. I want to travel the world, shout Jesus' beautiful name, proclaim His peace from mountain tops or whisper it quietly in a wondrously beautiful place.

Specially, Spain has been lingering in the back of my mind for quite some time now. When I was 16, the entire vocal department at my school toured Spain's mid and northern regions. Every little bit of that country surprised and delighted me. The food was literally the best I've ever tasted, Spaniards were kind and charming, the landscape was breathtakingly different than America, and everywhere that language caressed my ears with its beauty.

More importantly though, our countless concerts in cathedrals made me see an entirely different side of worshiping God. I grew up in your classic slightly charismatic, hand clapping, contemporary music swaying megachurch. The mission trips I went on happened to be in cultures who embraced this joyful worship of the Lord as well.

However, one brisk spring afternoon in Catedral de Leon, I sat in a back pew and felt surrounded by the echoes of a history of millions of prayers. Ancient Christians stared down at me with stained glass eyes as if they could empathize with how lost and far from God I felt at the time. Then, for once, I was totally still.

And I knew He is God.

Maybe my heart is restless to return to Spain so that it might be still once again.