It was a typical weekday night.  We had just finished dinner and as is our custom, my family ventured off into four different directions. 

My high school daughter began to do the dishes.  Yes, you heard that right…the dishes.  My seven-year-old son went to take a shower.  It’s amazing how sweaty a seven-year-old can get after just 20 minutes of recess.  My wife set out to get the rest of the house in order before our bedtime rituals began.  And I, not to be outdone, was on bath duty with my toddler. 

On most nights, these roles don’t need much discussion – they’ve become automated rhythms of our weekday routines.  However, as rhythmic as these roles have become, I was unprepared for the beautiful gift the Lord had prepared for me that night.

I had just run the bath and normally, at this point I’d put on some calm, instrumental music to help our son wind down and get ready for bed.  Instead, on this night I opted for some acoustic worship music.

As the first song played (“No Longer Slaves” by Bethel) an overwhelming sense of God’s presence filled the bathroom.  That space became sacred. There, between the tub and the toilet, I found myself on holy ground. 

If I’d been wearing shoes, I’d have needed to take them off.

God’s presence was palpable.  The room seeped with the sacred.  I sensed God’s joy, His delight, His goodness washing over us, even as I washed my son.

Delighting in God’s goodness, I poured water upon Theo’s head.  Instantly I’m reminded of our baptism into the family God.  As the bubbles wash away, I think of the forgiveness of sin we have through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As he defiantly pulled away from having the water poured upon his head, I’m struck by how we so often do the same and reject and refuse God’s cleansing mercy.  As I softly sing my song to God, Theo giggles with joy as he arranges his bath toys along the rim of the tub.  I sing and he giggles; both I believe are received as worship before our God. 

There, between the tub and the toilet, I was surprised by the sacred and in awe of the holy.  There, in one of the most unlikely places imaginable doing one of the most ordinary things possible, I encountered the presence of God. 

In but a small way, I can better understand the words of Jacob, who, when He encountered God in a dream cried out, “Surely the Lord was in this place, and I didn’t know it!”.  ~ Genesis 28:16 (NIV)

Think about the places and spaces in the Bible where people encountered the presence of God.

Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep when He encountered God in the burning bush. 

Joshua met God’s sword-drawn representative on the way to Jericho.

Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress when God showed up. 

Mary was at home planning her wedding to Joseph.

Peter was fishing, but catching nothing.

Matthew was collecting taxes, possibly even defrauding his own people on behalf of Rome.

Regardless of how strange, unusual, or eventful the means by which God’s presence was encountered, more often than not, the places and spaces God appeared were in the everyday ordinary spaces of life.

Lakes.

Fields. 

Homes. 

Gardens. 

Mangers.

Bathrooms. 

If God can show up there, in these places, I believe we can encounter and experience God anywhere. 

Now, this doesn’t mean we don’t need to ‘go’ to church (I know, I know, we are the church.  Semantics aside, you know what I mean.)  Some people will hear this and say, “See!  Why should I show up on Sunday for a service somewhere when I can meet with God anywhere?”  If that’s you, you’re not totally wrong, but you are missing the bigger picture. 

Yes, we can meet God anywhere and everywhere, even between the tub and the toilet, but I can’t meet with God and all of you between the tub and the toilet.  What made the space between the tub and the toilet so sacred was that in that small space, I had an experience of God’s presence that I could only truly have shared with my son.

But God doesn’t just desire to meet us personally, alone, in the solitude of other places; God also desires us to bring us together as we meet with Him.  “Don’t forsake meeting together” is how the scriptures express this. ~ Hebrews 10:25 (NIV). 

If life with God was only about you and God, then yes, we could skip out on Sundays altogether and spend our time alone at the beach, mountains, or anywhere else for that matter that helps us connect to God.  It doesn’t mean we don’t do these things ever.  It just means that if this is all we do, we’ve failed to see that God hasn’t just called us to Himself, He’s called us to each other as well.  And I believe he calls us together, into community, so that we can be formed into a family that reflects God to the world in a way that no one person could ever possibly do on their own.  It’s not one or the other – it’s both/and.

This week, may you seek God with all your heart wherever you happen to be.  May you listen for the still small voice of God and be attentive to God’s ever-present goodness at work even in the strange and ordinary spaces we inhabit.  And may we also remember that the God who calls us to Himself, calls us to each other.  May our time together train and prepare us for our time apart, so that whether we’re gathered or scattered, we become more and more sensitive to the work and presence of God among us…

Even between the tub and the toilet.