Are we alert to hear from God no matter how he chooses to speak? I’m a huge advocate, as you know, of spending daily time with God in prayer and the Word. But the other day, God spoke clearly through an obituary!

I normally don’t read the obits except to occasionally check to be sure I’m not in them! But June does, and she found an obit on someone we don’t know, and it really got our attention. Here’s a snippet:

For Ed, God was not a distant figure, but the One with Whom he daily sought a deeper relationship, an intimacy where he could learn to give up control and surrender to Him. Ed lived the great adventure of seeking God and loving people, beginning with those closest to him. – From the Obituary of Ed Blair, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO, June 2020.

Ed was not a Christian professional. His career was in food service, primarily working for Marriott. But I love this sentence: “Ed lived the great adventure of seeking God and loving people…”

What I heard God say to me was:

Seek God, love people, help others do the same.

My friend Shane observed that one leads to the other:

If we’re seeking to know God, we’ll learn that he loves people, and if we love people, one of the best things we can do for them is to help them seek God and love people, too!

It’s what the Apostle Paul was about:

God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Colossians 1.27, 28, NIV)