This past week I had to go to Emory an extra day, on Wednesday. I was a little upset about it; I had to drive because the buses didn’t run in the middle of the day; I had to drive two hours for only a two-hour session; the topic didn’t seem that exciting; Overall, I was just a little unhappy to be making an extra trip into Atlanta. After the session, I was walking back to my car by this patch of woods that is right before where I park my car. I have done this many times and every time I walk by, I always notice this little path that ventures off into the woods.

I have shared before how curious of a person I am, so I have always wondered where this path would lead. But on Wednesday, I was still a little upset for having to drive into town, sit through an alright session and then drive all the way back home. I had books to read, sermons to write, and what felt like a multitude of other things I could be doing with my time.

As I walked by that path, I felt the curiosity building up inside of me like I always do when I see that path; although, on this trip, not only did I feel curious, I heard that quiet voice inside me. The voice that I have come to understand as God speaking to me was inviting me down the path to I don’t know where.

I was ready to get back home and get my work done. The last thing I wanted to do was go off on an adventure to who knows where. I started making excuses like, “I am wearing my good shoes and the path looks a little muddy.” I told myself how much work I had to do still. I told myself that if I leave now, I would miss the rush hour traffic in Atlanta. I came up with quite a few good reasons to skip the path and head home…

But, the voice was clear and I knew God was inviting me to go down that path.

You see, I don’t think I would have been disobeying God if I didn’t go down that path. I think God was inviting me but not commanding that I go. Much like when my wife sends me an invitation for date night (yes, sometimes we actually send electronic e-vites to each other!), she isn’t commanding me to go, instead she is inviting me to a nice dinner and a movie. I was being invited into a time of intimacy with God, it was up to me to respond. If I didn’t go down that path, I think I would have had a fine day. But because I went down the path, I spent a couple of hours by a lovely pond in great time with God.

What will be our response as we encounter the revelation of God’s kingdom in the everyday, normalcy of our lives? Moses at the burning bush; Isaiah in the temple; fisherman by the sea; a woman at a well; Paul on a road to Damascus—all of these stories serve to remind us of how God’s invitation, how God’s revelation of his Kingdom meets us where we are as we are going through the “everyday” of our lives.

Oftentimes, God calls, he invites us, to see the revelation of his kingdom and waits for us to answer. In such everyday but divine moments, what will our response be?

I shared a time from this past week where I followed God’s invitation, but there are probably more times when I don’t respond because I don’t even see where he is. God reveals himself in many ways, he is constantly inviting us into communion with him. When those moments happen, what will our response be? Will we even see that he is inviting us?

I truly believe that God will reveal himself in many different ways to us this week. I believe he can use the natural, the supernatural or the individuals around us. Sometimes I am guilty of waiting for God to come through some huge booming voice through the sky; while I know he does that and is capable of that, sometimes the revelation of God is in the everyday moments of our lives. When he reveals himself to you this week, how will you respond?

My challenge to us all is that we look for where God may be inviting us in our every day lives and that when we see the invitation, we simply respond when God calls us. I don’t have the words or ways you should respond, but saying or doing something when he calls, that is the first step. So if you hear God taking you down a path this week, if you hear him in the everyday tedium of this life, respond. When you hear God calling you this week, what will your response be?