Pressing In

The Mall

Washington, D.C.

July 4, 2004

Ken and I

2 of 600,000

from the capitol building

to the Lincoln Monument

Standing very near

the Washington Monument

directly under the canopy of fireworks

or so it seemed

felt the earth resonate

the celebration of freedom

AWESOME!

Pressed in with 600,000 people

NOT so awesome

for this border-line claustrophobic!

WAY out of my comfort zone

but I pressed in

to be a part. . . to see . . . to experience

Twice in recent daily reading of the Word

“great crowds . . . pressed in” 

“One day as Jesus was preaching

on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,

great crowds pressed in on him

to listen to the word of God.” 

Luke 5:1  NLT  (emphasis added)

“But Jesus withdrew with His disciples

 to the sea.  And a great multitude . . .

followed Him, . . . a great multitude,

when they heard how many things

He was doing, came to Him.

So He told His disciples that a small boat

should be kept ready for Him

because of the multitude,

lest they should crush Him.

For He healed many,

so that as many as had afflictions

pressed about Him to touch Him. 

Mark 3:7-10 NKJV (emphasis added)

So I looked up the word pressed . . .

Dictionary . . .

To act upon with steadily applied weight of force

To urge or entreat strongly or insistently

To hold closely, as in an embrace; clasp

To push forward

To urge onward; hasten

To squeeze out or express, as juice

Thesaurus . . .

Bulldoze

Crowd

Crush

Pin down

Squeeze

I asked myself

is my relationship with Him

pushing me forward

drawing me to

“press in”

with all my heart, soul, and being

to hold closely

to embrace

to hear 

His Word

to know

His very presence

to receive

Life

for this mortal being

Is His grace in my life

bringing desire to

bulldoze the darkness

applying a steady force of intercession for

the lost

the sick

the promises of God

the Body of Christ

America

I'm choosing this day to

Press In