Those of us who’ve invited Jesus to take charge of our lives nod in assent when we hear, “He’s always with you.”

We’ve memorized many of the “full circle verses” (Seeing the Future) and we move into each new day knowing he’s present with us in his Spirit, all of us at the same time. It’s our miraculous reality, although we aren’t always thinking about it. Contrary to our sometimes non-thoughts of him, Jesus never stops thinking about us. And once in a while he gets creative trying to tug us back to an awareness of him.

Recently a bunch of us arrived at the beach to find Jesus had beat us there. Etched in the sand were the words, “Jesus [heart] U” in letters bigger than we were. The artist was long gone, so we set up camp right next to these true words. The simple sign was a good reminder:

• to focus on Jesus more
• to actively remember that he’s always with us
• to realize many other people believe in him, too.

When I see something like that beach message, I automatically think, “There’s another child of God, another believer.” Even though I didn’t know who had made the sign, I felt naturally drawn to this other person who had had Jesus so up-front on his/her mind.

Christians come in all sizes, shapes, colors and from any time period, country, or church. Sometimes we let insignificant things get in the way of relationships with them, and I often remember what Pastor Warren Wiersbe used to say: “When we get to heaven, we might be surprised at who’s there.” In other words, God judges based on people’s hearts, while the rest of us look mostly at their performance.

One cold day last winter when I pulled on a toasty warm sock, something inside of it poked me like a pin. When I took it off, I turned it inside out to see what it was (a pine needle from the Christmas tree). God looks at us in a similar way, from the inside out. After he sees what’s there, he makes his next move toward us accordingly.

My guess is that one of the things he looks for when he’s got us inside out is whether or not we’re tuned in to him at any given time. Are we looking in his direction? Are we conscious of his close presence? Is the wonder of being “with him” appreciated or disregarded? Are we mindful of him only on the days when we feel needy, or are we needful of him daily?

I’m thankful for the sign in the sand and the person who made it. Maybe a good idea would be to make a sign of my own the next time I’m at the beach, something like, “Your thoughts about [us] outnumber the grains of sand.” (Psalm 139:17-18)

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Jesus said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)