When I was 11 years old a group of us were playing as the sun set and darkness began to slowly settle on the day.

Our parents were all gathered in the driveway of one house, talking and socializing.

My group of friends and I were running around and having a great, safe and seemingly unending time, with the parents nearby.

I realized, as the evening took away the day, 

even as I was enjoying it all…..

that I did not want it to end.

Even at 11, I said to myself…

“This is a moment which might not take place again.”

I wanted to stay in that moment.

There are times such as this in everyone’s life.

I have had more times such as this.

In 1996, I attended a football game where the team I was pulling for drove about 90 yards with a minute or so left, scored with a few seconds remaining and beat their biggest rival.

EUPHORIA.

Did not want that moment to disappear.

Not a quiet or magnetic atmosphere…

but one of not wanting to leave the moment.

In 2009, a young minister from Florida conducted a week of meetings at my Church.

After several of those evening services there was almost an afterglow from the sermon and worship music. 

A peace was present.

There was a tangible presence of quiet Joy.

A real sense of not wanting to leave the moment.

It was not manufactured.

But it was real.

Recently, at this same Church, there was a moment like this.

A young lady sang a song near the conclusion of a service….which brought about a Moment that extended the time.

It changed the atmosphere.

You could feel it in your chest….

You could see it with your eyes in the response of the gathered group of people.

It drew everyone toward a Center of Commonality.

As it waned down after an extended time….

no one wanted to leave.

Many people from the gathered group just stayed in their seats..

Many simply stood at the Altar or in their row.

The atmosphere felt in a way, 

magnetic,

It drew you towards itself.

Among everyone, and in the Sanctuary itself….

there was a peace 

and that sense of being drawn in 

to where you did not want to leave that common bond….

you did not want It to end or go away.

In the movie, “Leap of Faith”, there was a tent service where people experienced an extended worship and saw a young boy who was crippled…get up and walk, unencumbered.

It took the group of people into an atmosphere of Joy and then a sense of wanting to prolong the moment. Many stayed and sat around the outside of the tent because what they saw and witnessed inside the tent continued to draw them.

When I was a senior in high school the Church I attended had a series of services that some call a revival.

Toward the end of the very first of those services…

something happened.

One of the leaders stood and spoke.

It was as if time stopped and the group of people there entered into a Presence which drew everyone together…

some were emotional,

some were reverential.

It continued for two and one half hours.

These times are similar in that some events cause us to want extended time.

There is a realization that the moment is special,
I can try to define the moments 

I have experienced these feelings and that Presence of bonding and the quiet magnetic pull toward What made the moment unique.

But I will fail.

Unless you have experienced these moments it is difficult to grasp.

It is similar to intimacy.

After the moments of culminated intimacy…

for many people there is a peace which draws you toward a center which both people experience.

It’s the fulfillment of physical love and we experience it physically and emotionally.

In the moments which occur in a worship service…

there is absolute intimacy…..

of a different type.

It is the experience of being in The Presence of God.

It can be overwhelming.

It can be emotional.

It can be physical.

It IS spiritual.

It is sometimes unexplainable.

But you know it is there and you have been in The Presence of Love, Power, Peace.

Not physical love.

Deeper than that.

Not physical power….

Nor is it peace that’s momentarily quiet.

It’s beneath the skin….

under the muscle of simple power and strength 

and it’s a peace that passes usual comprehension and definition.

However, it is as real as the earth your feet are planted on.

It is difficult to define with dictionary words….

it can maybe be explained in the language of long lasting love which can be communicated by a look.

When we experience the Presence of God….

it stretches the ability to fully define it.

In its fullest sense…….It’s beyond words.
I did my best to explain this.

But I can assure you with conviction….

I know it and have experienced it.

And if you have experienced it… you have an unworded definition as well.