Hi Jesus!

This morning at church, I was walking Paxton to her Sunday school classroom.
As we headed up the stairs, we saw this picture sitting at the top and without missing a beat, Pax said, “Hi Jesus!”

I laughed and as we topped the stairs we stopped to talk to a sweet friend and a few of the teenagers. 
I told them that Paxton had said “hi” to Jesus as we were coming up the stairs, and my friend said, “I’m so glad that Jesus is here!”
One of the teenagers jokingly said, “Jesus is here? Cool!  I want to tell Him “hi!”

We turned to head to Sunday school, and saw this…

Paxton laughed and said, “Oh, there He is again! Hi, Jesus!!”
My friend laughed and said “He’s everywhere today!”

And that couldn’t have been more true.

Jesus was everywhere today.
And He always is.
But we don’t always stop to look for Him, do we?
We don’t always recognize His presence.

Last Sunday morning was Easter and we celebrated that Jesus had come up out of that grave and that He was alive!
But guess what?
He’s still alive this Sunday.
And that’s certainly still worth celebrating.

He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And He was there this morning.
He was everywhere.
He was around every corner.
He was in the words of every song sung and every chord strummed.
He was in the message and in the messenger.
He was in the Lord’s Supper- in the bread, in the grape juice and in the hands that served them.
He was in every smiling face.
He was in every hug.
He was in the laughter of children and in the shaking of hands.
He was in every tear shed and every prayer offered up as knees bent at the altar or hands folded in prayer in a pew.
He was there this morning.
He was everywhere- all over that place.

Thank You, Lord, for never leaving us.
Please help us to recognize You more and never take Your presence for granted.
And please help us to not be so surprised when we sense Your presence.

Help us to slow down every now and then, and to stop and truly see You.

And maybe even to say, “Hi Jesus!” every now and then..