He is Everywhere by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my way (Psalm 139:1-3).

Travel always reminds me that God is everywhere. Every morning, while in Dublin, I was woken up by the sweet sound of sea gulls. Dublin is about 50 minutes from the Irish Sea, so the sea gulls have a tendency to navigate inland. When home, one of the things I love to do in the morning is listen to the sounds of birds and watch nature as I pray. It’s no different 4500 miles away. God’s creation is omnipresent.

We can experience the Lord’s overall presence anywhere. One of my fears is that I will drift from my relationship with Him when traveling. It’s easy to do, but it’s a discipline to stay connected on the road. My body is still thinking it’s on central time, so I set an alarm to make sure I wake up in time to spend an hour with God. This will get increasingly difficult as I spend the next twelve days at an antisemitism institute at The University of Oxford. There will be early mornings—days that extend into the night—but I know I don’t want to go through this experience without a prayer covering, or without a nonstop connection to my Maker. I can plug in at Oxford just as easily as I can in Dallas, Texas.

Job 34:21 says, “For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps.” Wherever we go, we are taking steps, right? Why would we not want His covering no matter where we set our feet? That requires continuing to make time for our heavenly Father. We may be on vacation, but we should not take a vacation from our relationship with God. Why? Because He wants to speak with us both home and away. His presence is everywhere and we should bask in it.