God dazzles us so we will pause and listen to him

​Yesterday, while I was running, I saw the clouds begin to darken to the west. I periodically checked the radar on my phone's weather app to make sure I didn't need to make a mad dash toward home. At least as mad as my dashes can get these days. Each check assured me I was good; the storms were well in the distance.

As I made my way toward the middle of Ashland, I started to see a strange cloud rolling my way. I checked the radar - nothing imminent. But undetected by technology, this cloud just kept coming and coming - like a train without its whistle blowing - until it was suddenly on top of me.

I turned the corner to make my way down the tracks. There was a huddle of locals holding their morning coffee and looking to the sky. I looked up. One of the fellas looked at me and simply said, "cool, huh?"

I snapped a picture. Then I stood there and stared. I searched the path of this shelf of a cloud from as far as I could see out in front of me to as far as I could see when I turned and followed it behind me. It was both beautiful and intimidating.

And then it was gone. Just like that it moved on. I imagined, moving on to grab the delight of someone else along its trek.

This morning, when I opened my Bob Goff devotional, I read these words:

God made beauty to leave us speechless. He dazzles us so we'll pause and listen for his voice.

Coincidence?

One of the beauties of running is that you can get into a flow that becomes almost hypnotic. The world as you know it - the one that can both haunt you and celebrate you - disappears and you're left in a quiet place of your own.

I suppose there are a lot of activities in life that can lure us to our quiet places like that.

I need those places. It's why I run. But maybe they cause us to miss life at times too.

I think God sometimes takes the liberty to remind me that it's not quiet I'm looking for. It's not the mere absence of noise and bustle and chaos that I'm running toward - seeking.

I think sometimes God wants to stop me in my tracks and remind me that it's peace I'm looking for. It's the chance to be and feel restored. If even for a moment. And, God is every once in awhile wanting to remind me - you won't find that in your voice. Not in your world. You'll only find it in mine.

I started to make my way down the tracks. After a minute or so, I noticed the cloud out in front of me was gone. I turned and looked behind me, not breaking stride, and nothing remained but your ordinary cloudy day. I was back to a normal run.

I was back to my own world.

This morning, when I read the title of Goff's devotional, as much as I realized God sure dazzled me for a moment yesterday morning, I'm also asking myself if I missed a chance to hear him. I'm wondering if I missed a chance to be soothed by his voice instead of being mesmerized by his creation.

Because this morning, I hear God quietly saying, that wasn't about the cloud, it was about you. It was about God saying, if I can bring this ominous cloud into your life out of nowhere - and then just as quickly move it on out, what can't I bring into your life seemingly out of nowhere? And what can't I look into your life and see, he says to me - the burdens or the struggles or the challenges - and say to them - move on along now.

God's voice doesn't always show up with its whistle blowing. But sometimes the most important words are his quietest ones. Even when they come in the echo of a cloud long gone....