Dancing with God: Seeing God in the Everydayness of Life

By Roger Button

It is easy to see God in a blue sky with puffy clouds. It is harder to see God in the mud puddles. If God is in the blue skies and puffy clouds of life, he is also in the mud puddles. This book is dedicated to helping people see God in the everydayness of life. When things are going well and even when you step into a mud puddle God is there with you and for you. I hope that as you read this book your eyes will start to see the little things that God is up to every daythe little miracles that happen. As people read this book, my prayer is that the broken find healing and the hopeless find hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490831237

Roger Button

Roger Button is the Chaplain at the Clark County Family YMCA. He is an ordained, recorded Quaker minister. He holds a master of divinity degree and a certificate in spiritual formation; he is also a certified spiritual director. He has been a youth pastor, an associate pastor, and a senior pastor. He has spent time inside the walls of the church, but God has called him outside of the church, a place that was modeled for us by Jesus. He loves the YMCA and believes in its mission.

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Copyright © 2014 Roger Button.

Cover Design by Saundra Beauchaine.

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Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN:978-1-4908-3124-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3125-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3123-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014905467

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/24/2014

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Dancing with God

People Tend to Make a Lot out of Mondays

I Woke Up Early This Morning

Spiritual Dry Rot

Hootin’ and Hollerin’ on the River

Welcome to the Poophouse

Things a Horse Taught Me

Honeybucket RV Rentals

That’s Why

People Are Funny Creatures

Loving Others without Consuming Them

Hospitality Is Not Hard

God Runs the Show Completely

I Do Not Want to Be a Bathroom Door

One of My Morning Chores Was Feeding the Horses

Our Ride Took Us through Albuquirky

My Zipper Broke

I Have Been to Helena and Back

Why Did You Put Him in the Chipper?

Okeydoke and You Betcha

The Best Stop Ever!

Katie, Kim, Ruth, Mark, Beverly, and a Full Belly

Just Because I’m Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t Out to Get Me

A Flat Tire on the Road Trip of Life

Hurt People Hurt People

Another Day in the Old West

Home Again

Have You Ever Had a Nudge?

The Cat’s in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon

I’ve Got Nothing

This old house

Abe, a River, and Cheetos

The Little River behind My House

Fly-Fishing and Ministry

Cheese, Crackers, PowerBait, and Unhealthy Spirituality

Things My Grandfather Taught Me

Simplexity

The ZipStrip Incident of 1976

A Chicken Named Pit Silo

The Case of the Empty Coffee Cup

Ice-skating the Great Republican River

You call me out upon the waters.

The great unknown where feet may fail

The Red-Handled Screwdriver Incident of 1974

Don’t Put Your Date in the Trunk

A Conversation about Heaven

Dramastically

Making Room for God; a Forced Sabbath

A Quiet Morning

Getting on Right Race Boulevard

Roses or Fish Bombs?

Bibliography

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I see from my house by the side of the road

By the side of the highway of life,

Those who press with the ardour of hope,

and others who faint with the strife.

But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears—

Both parts of an infinite plan.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road

And be the friend I can.

Sam Walter Foss¹

Dedication

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When I was in my final year of Seminary, I found a connection between Martin Luther, and Saint John of the Cross. I was given the opportunity to get my PHD in either Germany, where Martin Luther lived, or Spain, where Saint John of the Cross lived. Needles to say, I was excited at the opportunity. I came home and told Laurie (Laurie is my wife).

Laurie stood silently for a moment then looked lovingly into my eyes and said, You are not dragging this family to Europe for six years while you are busy studying something only you and four other people in the entire world care about. She went on to say, Your job is to put the cookies on the bottom shelf. Your job is to make Christ accessible to people.

After I got done pouting. I realized that Laurie was right. My job is to help people see Christ in the everydayness of their lives.

This book is dedicated to my wife Laurie. The woman whose job it is to keep me from getting to far into my own head and keep my feet on the ground. To the woman who has shown me unconditional love 99.9% of the time. I also want to dedicate this book to my dog Abe, a great friend and companion, a dog that has shown me unconditional love 100% of the time.

I love you Laurie, more than life itself.

Acknowledgements

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Words cannot convey my deep appreciation to the people who have helped make this book possible. To the Clark County Family YMCA staff, who are busy everyday being Christ’s hands and feet. They are a source of inspiration. To Corinn DeWaard, a great friend and a great person. Her thoughts and edits have made this book what it is. To Westbow Press for their dedication and Grace. They made this a joy to publish. Special thanks to Shaun Kauffman, your ideas and your ability to keep me on track has been invaluable. To Dr. Charles Conniry (Chuck), your friendship throughout the years has been a true blessing on my life. Your willingness to allow me to poke fun in the breads shows the true friend that you are. I cannot wait for the next ride. Thank you, each and every one of you. Know that you are loved.

Introduction

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Dancing with God is a compilation of insights taken from my blog, Daily Bread for Ragamuffins.

I am a simple Quaker minister, more of a monk really. After spending time inside the walls of the church, I stepped out in front of the church in 2006. This is the story of how Dancing with God came to be.

In the little town where I was ministering, we had an ecumenical group. Ecumenical is a big word for a bunch of pastors from different denominations coming together to talk, to pray, and to encourage and empower one another. We would get together once a week. During one meeting, we complained that if everyone in town decided to attend services on any given Sunday, we would not have enough churches to hold everyone, but that our churches were nonetheless half-empty. (Yes, pastors complain too.) After this meeting, I told one of my pastor friends, I am starting to have trouble with the ‘Come and see’ style of church where we ask people to come and give us a try. I am starting to feel led to ‘Go and be.’

I decided to move my office to a local coffee shop. This worked fine for a few months. I would find a spot at the coffee shop, and people would come and see me. It was a great arrangement. The shop loved it; people were buying lots of coffee as they sat and talked with me. I liked it a lot. I would set up shop and drink copious amounts of coffee while I talked with people. I thought everything was going great until one day a still small voice said, I asked you to go and be, and you created another ‘Come and see.’ That still small voice bothered me. It was right; I had created another Come and see. I started to think, What does it look, taste, and feel like to go and be?

We had a YMCA in our little town. I called and asked, Do you have any job openings?

The person on the other end said, Yes. We have weight room monitor.

I asked, What is a weight room monitor? The person described the job, and I said, I would like to apply.

I met with the people at the YMCA, and they explained the requirements and told me the hours and the pay.

I said, It sounds wonderful. I will take it.

They said, Not so fast, cowboy. We need to see your résumé first.

I thought, My résumé? It is a minimum-wage position and only four hours per week and they want my résumé? I said, Okay.

I went home and grabbed my résumé. Yes, I had one ready. I guess it is a pastor thing; we are always building our résumés. I brought my résumé to the YMCA and presented it to the interviewers.

They read it and said, You would hate this position. You are vastly overqualified.

I responded, I do not think that I would hate this position. In fact, I think it is right up my alley.

They said, We don’t think you understand. This job is mainly janitorial.

I said, I read that in the job description.

They said, No, really. You will be wiping down sweaty machines.

I said, I figured that.

They said, You do not have a problem with that?

I responded, If Jesus Christ can wash feet, I can wipe down sweaty machines.

They said, Okay. We will give you a try.

On my first day as weight room monitor, I walked up to the cardio floor and saw a woman on a treadmill. She was running very hard; the treadmill sounded like a huge fan and was humming loudly. The woman was also crying very hard. She obviously was dealing with stuff. She was working on her body, but her emotional and spiritual self was a mess. I looked around the room. There were many people in basically the same boat. People work on their outside selves but not on their inside selves.

As I wiped down machines, I started talking with these people. This YMCA had an indoor walking track, and people would ask me to make the circuit with them. They would tell me their troubles, and I would pray with them and for them. Before long, the YMCA asked me to be the facility’s chaplain. I started writing what I called Breads after a staff member asked me, Could you write an inspirational message? The first Bread went out to six people within the Y, and in a short time the messages gained a national audience. I created a blog site so that more people could access them. I called it Daily Bread for Ragamuffins. The site quickly grew to reach an international audience and now has thousands of readers in many countries.

Dancing with God is a compilation of some of these Breads. This book is meant to be ruminated on. It is my attempt to give readers a way to see God in the everydayness of their lives. I hope that through this book the broken will find healing, the hopeless will find hope, and most of all, readers will see that they are not alone.

As we drive down the road of life, we seldom get to see what God is up to as we look through the windshield. It is only when we glance in the rearview mirror that we get an idea of what He has been doing. The problem is, we cannot spend all of our time looking in the rearview mirror as we drive the car. If we did, we would run into a tree. We are forced to look through the windshield and trust that God is working in our lives. This trust is called faith.

Enjoy the book. Visit Daily Bread for Ragamuffins at http://rogerbutton.blogspot.com/ and let me know your thoughts.

Dancing with God

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Good morning. I pray that the day finds you well.

The wind was blowing the other day, and I noticed a leaf being carried along. It blew one way, then another.

I watched as it went back and forth, tumbling over its stem, then over its