B (32:06)
And it's so interesting to me that the rest of this story happens because Moses ran away. And usually, like, when you run away, even in this moment, like, you could say, like, it was probably fear. But Moses had to have also been feeling a lot of shame, because all of a sudden he was raised and he was saved by the Pharaoh's family. He ruined that. Like, he killed the Egyptian. Pharaoh's mad at him. He runs, runs away. There had to be some level of shame that set in for Moses, and so he ran and he just became an ordinary shepherd. And I am sure that when he walked those fields the first few days, they had to have been evidence to him that he was a mess. He was a shepherd. And he looked, and he was like, this is going to be fine. And I could figure this out. But part of him had to have been thinking, this is not what I was to meant made for. I had something better for me. Things were going a lot better for me. Five years ago, five days ago, things were going like, this is not the life. It was evidence. Every single day of his life as a shepherd had to have been evidence that he ran. Had to have been evidence that he, at some point, messed up. Things did not go the way that Moses had wanted them to go. And I was never much of, like, a run. I feel like some kids are either like, runaway kids or, like, they're not the runaway kid. And I'm gonna be honest. My sister was the runaway kid. And our family, I would call her out on that. She was always a runner. But I was always like. Like, I always wanted to run away. I, like, had the idea, like, and it usually was like, it was never because I was in a fight with my parents when I was a kid. It was always because, like, I'd broken something or, like, I had colored on the walls or, like, I messed up. And then I was like, oh, no. Like, I don't want to face the consequences. Let me bolt. Like, I've got to get out of here. And every single time in my head, I'd be, like, making my plan. And, you know, like, you're, like, getting, like, goldfish for your bag, like, for the food and, like, the stuffed animal, like, that's gonna, like, help you on your Runway. And I would always think, there's, like, this big hill by my house. And I would always think, okay, but if I run away, how am I gonna get over that hill? Like, I'm not gonna make it up and down that hill. And every single time after I, like, thought of my runaway plan, we would, like, drive on that hill, and I'd be like, how could I ever, like, get over this hill? Like, I'm never gonna be able to if I run. Like, only in a car can you get up and down this hill. And every single time as a kid, that hill was marked, and it was always reminding me of running away. And it almost feels like Moses probably had the same thing for the first few days or weeks or months as a shepherd, that when he would walk those fields, it was evidence that he ran. It was a reminder of running away. And then one day, something changed, and all of a sudden, he was walking the same Fields he had always walked. And he ran away for a long time. He was gone 40 years. Like, it was not just like he, like, ran away for two weeks. Like, he was gone. He was a runner. And he ran and he ran and he ran. And he was being a shepherd, and he was being a shepherd for years and years and years. And then all of a sudden, something changed. And he was in the middle of the same desert that he had always been on, probably on a mountain that he was super familiar with. And then in verse number two of chapter three, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And we read that, and we're like, that's crazy. And it surely would have been crazy for Moses, but what I think would have been crazier for Moses is that, first of all, he was walking by those bushes every single day. They were not new. They were not new to him. It was his same route with his same sheep, his same job. It was his ordinary life. And he looked in verse number two, and behold, it really was on fire. And he started getting confused. And I'm sure he was like, well, I better take care of this fire because I've got to protect the sheep. So he's, like, going over there. Cause it's just like, maybe an ordinary thing in his ordinary day. And then all of a sudden, he starts looking, and he's like, wait, the bush is on fire, but it's not burning down. Like, something's different here. And then Moses in verse three goes, and he says, let me see this great sight. Something is great here. Something's different here. This is no longer ordinary. Why is that bush not burning? And when the Lord saw that, he turned to see. God called him out to the middle of the bush and said, moses, Moses. And Moses answers, and he says, here am I. Here I am. I'm at the bush. I've got it. And then God says, don't come any further. Take off your shoes. Because the place where you are standing is holy ground. And I wonder if that almost seemed impossible to Moses. The ground that he ran away to, the ground that was evidence of his shame. The ground that was evidence of his mistake. And then the most ordinary ground, what once was a mistake, turned to ordinary. That's the life he lived. He accepted it. He owned it. It was 40 years. That was his regular life. All of a sudden, the Lord looked and began to call it holy. That must not have initially made sense to Moses. That shouldn't be possible. Shameful ground. Turned ordinary ground now, turned holy. And I love the invitation of taking off his shoes. And I think there's a lot of symbol there. Take off your shoes. They're dirty. This is sacred ground. Let this be holy. But also, to me, I am a big, barefoot girl. I love it. I love to be bare. And I love this moment. And I think the reason I love it is because it reminds me of, like, grass, and it reminds me of sand and, like, being fully in a place. And part of me also wonders if, in that moment, the Lord wanted to look at Moses and say, take off your shoes. Forget about the path that you've walked. Forget about your history. Forget about the dirt that's covering them. Forget of everything that led you here and be fully in this moment, experience it barefoot, live right here in this moment, all the way, presently here. And then he says, I am God. I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And I wonder if all of the memories, even though he took off his shoes, I wonder if all of the memories of the last 40 years of Moses living an ordinary life came flooding back. And the Lord said, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cries, and I know their sorrows. I know it all. I have not been absent for 40 years. I have been watching, and I've been listening, and I've been aware of every single thing that got you here, that made you who you are, of every single sorrow, of every single person that you have even interacted with in the last 40 years. I know it all. And I have come down to deliver. I am here to rescue. And I showed up in an ordinary place to rescue you. And that road, that hill that I always, like, went to, what ended up happening is that hill randomly. One day, I was, like, driving home, and I was late for curfew, and I heard this song randomly. Come on. And it was a worship song, which was crazy, because I didn't even know how it got on my playlist. And I parked my car on the side of the road right by that hill, and I listened to that song, like, three times. And I remember sitting there one night. It was when I was in high school. And I remember thinking, I will never forget this place, because this is the place that I really came to believe that God is real and that he loves me. And it was a moment that, yeah, that place used to be, like, the place that, like, made it impossible for me to run away. And I, like always would associate it with all of those memories of running away. And then it became ordinary because I drove on it for 16 years, every single day. And then God showed up there and turned it sacred. And that is who we believe in. A God who can take a place that is full of shame, a God who can take a place that has become ordinary, a God that can take a place that is mundane and turn it sacred, who can make that holy ground. He did it for Moses. He has done it for me on a hill by my house. And he can do it for anyone. He can take ground and make it holy. And our word of the week is see. And it comes from verse number three in chapter three, Exodus. Oh, Exodus, chapter three, verse three. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and I will see this great sight. And what I love is that was an ordinary place for Moses, that God turned sacred. And all he had to do was look, and he saw something that he had never seen. And I love. On the poster, there is one of the definitions. It says, have experience. Seeing is having an experience. And we are all able to have experiences that turn ordinary places and ordinary moments into holy ground, that turn them sacred. And I think that is the lesson for me of this poster, if you're discussing or teaching with your family, is to pause and say, when has an ordinary place become sacred? When has God turned an ordinary moment into sacred ground? And when have you seen him do that, that look around, look for God turning ordinary, normal moments into sacred ones. Do you have that quote that. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, you too?
