This morning, I was walking up the hill above my house. Haven't been up there in a while. Maybe since I picked up trash after the 4th of July last year. There was a lot more litter along the side of the road. It seems my beautiful walk is being destroyed by the thoughtlessness of some skate-boarding youth.

I continued to lament the tarnished beauty as I ascended the hill. When I got to the top, I ventured off the road, into the thicket which has a path to the edge. The little wooden bench was still there, along with more beer cans and other trash. But the view!! It still took my breath away!! My attention was quickly diverted from the litter to the magnificent beauty.

As I made my way back down the road, I began to sing "You are welcome in this place, Mighty God. You are welcome in this place, Holy Spirit..." and I felt His presence. And I heard Him speak to me "I like your song, but I am already here you know. Every place that there is litter, garbage, trash...whether it be in a human heart, a life littered with drugs and alcohol, or a dirty landscape...I am there. And it is holy ground."

Wow, I began to understand what holy ground really is. I guess I used to think that "spiritual places" (up near the alter of church) were holy ground. You know, clean places. Perfect places.

 But now I see. Every place that needs light, that needs grace, that needs Him...is holy! This is why Jesus came. And this is where He came! And where He continues to come...through us. Every place that I stand or walk or sit or "am" there He is also. And that place is holy ground.

God is in everything. He is in us. Wow.
I cried all the way home.